Platinum
by BrokenYetDreaming
Summary: Life can be quite weird at times—that's something Vivienne Swan, Bella's younger thirteen year old sister (soon to be fourteen), has come to terms with. Facts; she is normal, with normal, average grades, normal as can be family. . . that all changes when weird things like vampires and werewolves are thrown into her normal life. Nothing will ever be normal again, ever.
1. PREFACE

**CONTENTS**

**1. PREFACE**  
**2. TIME PASSES**  
**3. COMEBACK**  
**4. DECEIVER**  
**5. INVITATION**  
**6. CHANT**  
**7. EXPLORING**  
**8. DATE**  
**9. THE PULL**  
**10. GANG**  
**11. CONFUSED**  
**12. INTRUDER**  
**13. CONFESSIONS**  
**14. FAMILY**  
**15. MIND OVER MATTER**  
**16. FAILURE**  
**17. VISITOR**  
**18. FUNERAL**  
**19. TARGET**  
**20. DANGER**  
**21. THE WARRIORS**  
**22. BLINDING **  
**23. THE CULLENS**  
**24. COLD TRUTH**

**25. EPILOGUE: THE TRUCE**

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_"__As long as you love me, I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold. . ."_

_~ Justin Bieber_

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**~*'Platinum'*~**

**1. PREFACE**

MY BREATHING HITCHED as I backed against a tree's rough bark. It was painful—I had already made my back sore, why add more pain to it? But I couldn't dwell on that at the moment, my attention was focused on the incredibly, abnormally beautiful woman in front of me. Her eyes where what struck me the most. They were an onyx black, with tiny specks around them, a deep red. They looked at me with hunger—a shiver ran through me.

All I could do was hopelessly stare at the woman who has hunted my sister for many months now. She's scared her, a lot, and has scared me, a lot too. Then why wasn't I screaming my ass off over here?

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to scream, beg for her mercy. I didn't want to die just yet. I didn't want to cease to exist, I wanted to grow up, live a normal life. But I knew that all ended when I was plunged into this whole mess.

What would Bella do? Certainly act brave—at least I think.

But I wasn't Bella. I was me, her younger sister, about to die. Luck tended to avoid me, and I'm sure it's nowhere near me now—forbid luck to save me. Tears brimmed my eyes, and I desperately tried to withhold them. I couldn't. How could I? I was about to die!

I couldn't just leave this universe without a fight. That much I knew, and that much I will prove. What I am going to do might be idiotic, but I have to show this woman, that I could stand my ground.

Death and I would soon clash, and my future would burn in the result. I was playing with fire. I have been since I've known all about Fork's mysteries.

With an inward deep sigh, I take a step forward, pushing aside the thoughts that—I wasn't going to win this battle.

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**A/N: Forgot to add a Preface, hahha.**

**I have decided to rename my story from "Torrent" to "Platinum". I have various reasons, really. One being that Imma use "Torrent" for another story of mine as a title. And, really, I like the name Platinum for this story.**

**This is the first installment to the Platinum Saga. So I do hope you enjoy this story, and hopefully, review, and all that stuff that makes me and other authors here extremely happy!**

**Please. . .**

**REVIEW!**


	2. TIME PASSES

**A/N: Welcome to my second Twilight fanfic—please check it out. This one is about Bella's younger thirteen year old sister, soon to be fourteen. Her name is Vivienne Helen Swan, and this chapter was a bit too short for my own taste, I'm sure the next chapter will be soon.**

**IMPORTANT FOR NEW AND PREVIOUS READERS: I HAVE CHANGED THE TITLE; THE NEW TITLE IS _PLATINUM, _JUST TO GIVE YOU ALL A HEADS UP.**

**Enjoy and review.**

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**SUMMARY: **Life can be quite weird at times—that's something Vivienne Swan, Bella's younger thirteen year old sisters—soon to be fourteen—has come to terms with. Facts; she is normal, with normal, average grades, normal as can be family... that all changes when weird things like vampires and werewolves are thrown into her normal life. Nothing will ever be normal again, ever. Jacob/OC

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**2. TIME PASSES**

NOBODY HAS EVER told me that life was easy, on the contrary, many have told me countless stories of their struggles. I find them fascinating—comparing one event to the other, or in this case—my horrifying struggle in my life, or both my sister's and I's.

As I sat there in the morning, eating my cereal as quietly as I could, I observed my older eighteen year old sister—Isabella Marie Swan. She had olive skin, with long, straight, dark brown hair, and dark chocolate brown eyes that somehow brightened in the light—making them an almost milky brown. She also had a scar, it was paler in comparison to her skin—it was oddly shaped in a crescent moon.

We were alike in a way, me sharing her olive skin tone with pink patches in my cheeks, my hair was a golden, light brown like my mom that sometimes looked blonde. Unlike my mom, mine was slightly curly, more wavy-ish though, and wide royal blue eyes—I got them from my mom, Renee, too. I obtained my mom's hair and eye color, but look like a combination of both parents (more like my dad, though), while Bella had my dad's hair and eye color, while looking exactly like my mom. I was five years younger than Bella, meaning, I was thirteen.

Bella's eyes unexpectedly met mine. I blinked several times, flushing because I was caught staring at her. Her lips slightly turned down, so I knew she was frowning. It was like this all the time now, since her boyfriend, Edward Cullen, left her.

She was like a zombie, with big, dark purple bruises under her eyes, she was getting a tad skinnier, but she still maintained her great grades in school—she's smarter than me. She was in a more advanced class when she was my age, so I carried the burden of trying to live up to her scales.

Of course I failed, but I try everyday.

My dad, Charlie Swan, chief of police of Forks, had left work already, leaving Bella and I alone.

It wasn't that I wasn't comfortable around my big sis, no, it was just, it made me want to cry just seeing her. I knew it was childish, but I hated watching my sister act like a motionless zombie all day, not speaking to either my dad and I.

Yeah, I was terrified for her.

And, all I knew at the moment, or every time I see Bella like this; is that I hate Edward Cullen, with all my life.

He did this to her—made her into this emotionless zombie, who thought the world has ended because he left—and that's a thing a hated about her. Sure, I admired her, but there are things I hated about her, loathed at times.

Ever since he left, it's as if the whole world has stopped spinning. Like the moon no longer shines on her night, or the sun doesn't shine at day—like there is no reason to live anymore. I bet, that she would even go as far as _killing _herself if she didn't have my dad and I.

Tears flood my eyes, so I abruptly push my chair away, stand up and empty my cereal bowl, and excuse myself.

I just couldn't watch her at the moment—not now.

But before I could leave the kitchen, she spoke, "Liv, wait." I froze, blinking back the tears several times. I didn't want her to see my tears—I hated people seeing me cry. I preferred to be 'suffer-in-silence-or-alone-type', like Bella.

"Yeah?" I asked, not turning around to face her. I just hoped my voice didn't give off any signs that I was crying.

There was a faint sigh, "I-I... I'm sorry."

Sorry? Sorry for what? "Excuse me?" I asked, watching my feet intently. I couldn't rub of the tolling shock I felt—her voice was different, in a bad way. It was dull, no life detectable in her voice. It used to be happy, caring. Now, no emotions came off of it.

New tears threatened to fall.

"I-I... I'm sorry, you know, for acting the way I am. I'm just passing a hard time in life—it'll pass." She reassured softly, her voice sad.

That was a lie. I could tell by the wavering in her tone. She knew she wasn't going to get over this—not by a long shot. The idea was selfish in her part in many ways—why get my hopes up? Even if I knew she was lying, a small, tiny part of me believed in her words.

I clenched my fist, "Don't lie to me Bella," I turned towards her and saw her flinch, "don't tell me to hold on to a thin string for my life, and expect me for it to not break! I'm... you may think you're only hurting yourself, Bella, but you're hurting me, too. I swear, I don't even know you anymore," I whispered, abruptly turning around and heading for my room upstairs.

The door slams behind me, and I locked it. I just couldn't deal with Bella at the moment.

Why bring my hopes up?

I could feel the dimming hope, my imagination getting the better of me; I imagined Bella and I laughing like the old times, her ruffling my hair up and me pouting at her.

My imagination does sometimes get the better of me.

"Stop," I command myself. This was torture—why couldn't I think of other things? More, realistic things?

There was a soft, yet firm knock on my door, "Vivienne Helen Swan, open this door." Bella tried to sound strict, but she wasn't fooling anyone—her voice was weak, dull, without emotion. It sent shivers down my spine.

The knocking didn't stop, in fact, they did a rhythm—she knew I liked knocks that had a rhythm, damn her. It was tempting to open, this had actually been the most she had acted in weeks—if only dad was here to witness this unusual event.

I, myself, even had trouble believing it.

"Liv, please, open." She begged.

But I was stubborn, "No."

"Please." Her voice was breaking.

My heart broke even more, shattering into littler pieces, my hope thinning. Her voice—it was just too selfish of me to not open it, it made me feel bad.

So, I wiped away the tears, and forced myself to make a poker face—and with one final deep breath, I opened the door to see a concerned Bella, her brown eyes hurt, in pain. That was all it took for me to hug her, envelop her almost fragile body into mine.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and sobbed into my neck.

_Crack, _another shatter of my heart. I paid no attention to it though, Bella was all that mattered at the moment, she was weak, in pain. I would have laughed at the situation if it were different—I was the same size as her, five foot four. She got mom's height, I got dad's.

"Shh," I murmured, petting her hair softly, "Shh.."

"I, I miss _him._" She croaked. I did notice how she didn't use _Edward_, or how she doesn't hear music anymore, she cringes from the sound. So that's why I stopped playing the piano—her pain was visible in her face—she was an open book._  
_

The moment made me realize, remembering how she's changed since Edward left—was that, she was in serious, and undoubtfully—in pain, and how she will never actually forget about Edward.

I sighed, my bottom lip trembling, and my eyes began to water again. I gulped back the knot on my throat, and blinked back the tears—Bella needs me more than anybody realized. No, she needs people there for her, she needs a shoulder to lean on.

Now, I'm that shoulder.

During the crying fest, Bella kept on murmuring his name—it wasn't until I pulled her away at arm's length that I noticed that she had fallen asleep, her nose was crinkled back, her mouth into a permanent frown.

"No! Please, Edward, don't leave!" She screamed all of a sudden, making me jerk back, startled and shocked. I was quick to catch her though, when she fell forward, carrying her in my arms and settling her back down on my bed.

I petted her hair again, "Shh..." I mumbled, closing my eyes so I wouldn't see her crumbled up face.

I knew I should be used to it, all the screaming, nightmares, but in truth, I knew I never would. It was just horrible, depressing.

A permanent question plagued my mind; when will this all be over?

**OCTOBER**

It has been about two weeks since Bella had cried in my room, two weeks since she sort of left her shell, often talking to me now a then. It was an improvement, nothing much, but it was something.

I frowned at the clock. Only twenty more minutes until my best friend, Kendra Marks, came. Then, we're off to trick-or-treat.

Bella was coming with us—saying she was going to take care of me. I would have been mad before, but now, it made me happy.

The TV was on, but neither one of us was paying much attention to it. Dad was off patrolling the streets, making sure everything was okay and in order.

But we all knew nothing exciting ever happened in Forks.

And that's just how I loved it.

Sighing, I looked at the clock again—not even a minute has passed since I last checked.

I hate time.

Bella made an effort to laugh at my costume, "What are you—an old fairy?" Her voice held a tinged of curiosity. My heart soared, she was coming back, slowly, but still, coming.

Pouting, I straighten out my dark grey dress."No. Bells," I roll my eyes.

"Well?"

"I'm a Hobo Fairy."

**NOVEMBER**

My progress report came today. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, should I hide it?

Yeah, it wasn't honest, but I got a bad grade on an assignment—so I'll have one; A, five; B's, and one; C. I bit my nails—I wouldn't want to disappoint Bella, I had made her a promise that I would get more A's, and no C's.

I failed her.

So, right about the second that I was tucking the progress report into my pocket, all crumbled up, my guilt, shame over flowing, someone spoke from behind me, "What are you doing, Liv?"

Bella.

I jumped back, "Uh, um, nothing." I lied. Real cool Liv, real cool.

She held out her hand, "Can I see that?"

"No!" I protested too quickly, "I mean... I-I, I didn't get a lot of A's. In fact, I got a C." I relented, turning my head down.

She patted my shoulder rather softly. "That's okay, all that matters to me is that you tried."

Relief was exquisite. "Really?"

"Really. Wanna get some ice cream?"

"Sure!" I all, but exclaimed, already running towards her truck.

Her laughter was music to my ears.

**DECEMBER**

Five more seconds, and... it's Christmas Eve!

I bolt towards the presents under the poorly decorated tree.

But before my fingers could grace the silky material that covered my presents, I was interrupted by dad and a flashing light. I squinted my eyes; I think I've gone blind. Man, I really wanted to see what I got.

Groaning, I blink my eyes several time, until the light refocuses back and I could make sense of the world once again.

I glare at my dad, "Hey, what was that for! I thought I was blind for a second there." I admitted sheepishly, flushing.

He chuckled, "Sorry, kiddo." He ruffled my hair, but his hand froze when he heard a rare giggle.

Bella was giggling at our display, shaking her head. But she too stopped short, when she noticed dad gaping at her, mouth agape, eyes wide, and his expression was hilarious—it was if Bella had just announced she had won a million dollars.

A frown formed my lips. I already missed the giggle.

"Uh, let's let Livi open her present?" She suggested.

I smiled at the idea, nodding eagerly, "I'd like that, I'd really like that." I did, it has been torture seeing my presents under the Christmas tree, and not being able to open them.

Dad chuckled, still too shocked from before.

_To: Vivienne Swan_

_From: Mom_

I opened the first present, a huge grin settling on my lips—it was a necklace, with a magnificent blue sapphire shaped into a heart. It glimmered in the light—and I couldn't help, but squeal. It was embarrassing since I wasn't a girly girl—meaning I did not squeal, at all.

This was the same exact necklace I had told her that I wanted before I came here to Forks. "I can't believe she remembers..." I whispered, shocked.

The next present was from dad—a blue bike—amazing. I also got clothes.

So far, I'd say this Christmas rocked.

**JANUARY**

Today was January fourteen, a day that meant very much to my dad's best friend, Billy Black, and his son, Jacob Black—they were from La Push, a local Native American reservation just off of Forks.

Dad was driving us there, the radio was on, and I was humming along the familiar sound. Bella wasn't around, so it was safe for music. My fingers tapped against the blue wrapped box, _I _wrapped up myself.

Yeah, I was proud.

Bella was home, she didn't want to come. I understood, she needed time alone.

I sighed, closing my eyes as the wind came through the open window, hitting my face in a cool, relaxing manner. My hair was going all over the place, but I didn't care at the moment.

Just one more month until _my_ birthday. My birthday was on February twenty nine, yeah, the off and on again day of the year. I scowled since technically I was _four_ years old.

But, we've always celebrated my birthday on the twenty eight, or the first of March.

Damn leap years.

Damn February twenty nine.

He stops in front of their small red house, and I exit it, looking at my reflection in the mirror, seeing a pimple on my nose, and my forehead. I hate puberty.

There was a small group of people gathered around a table someone had put outside, talking to one another. I sighed in relief when I noticed I dressed well—I dressed normal.

People greeted us, and we waved. I flushed a bit when Billy commented I grew and that puberty has over taken me—all I did was scowl at him, blushing bright red.

What shocked me the most from the day, was when I handed Jacob his present. He had taken it with a huge, happy smile on his face, his eyes happy. I wouldn't blame him—today was his day after all.

But when he touched my finger, an electric current passed through us—or was I just being delusional? I jerked my hand away, shocked—and Jacob had too, resulting in the present falling into the mud.

"Great," I muttered, sighing as I picked it up, cleaning the mud away as best as I could. I handed him the present, "Er, happy birthday, Jacob Black. Uh, what a _muddy_ day, eh, right?"

I sighed in relief when he got the joke; I had rhymed muddy with funny. Lame I know, but I was grateful that he understood it, it made it less awkward.

When dad and I left later that day, all I could think of was that shocking feeling I touched Jacob. Was I really just being delusional? But his reaction proved that he felt it, too.

My mind wandered back to the passing months—time passes really quick. It's amazing how much has occurred over the past months—Bella still isn't the same, but dad and I are getting her back ever so slowly.

I close my eyes, "Time sure passes by fast." I mumbled to my dad.

"Sure does. It Sure does." He replied.

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**A/N: As always, all I ask is for reviews about your opinions, or ideas. I know the basic plot for this story—I have my visuals.**

**So, did you like Liv? You'll learn more about her later on.**

**Please...**

**REVIEW!**


	3. COMEBACK

**A/N: So, here's the second chapter *smiles sheepishly*. Er, I'm sorry it's late, I really am. I've written Chapter Two over THREE times! Until, alas, I was satisfied with this copy. Okay, so please don't be mad, my internet is really messing up, and yeah... UGH! ;\**

**I just realized I've been forgetting to put this, so here it goes; I do not own Twilight or any of it's characters. I just own my own creations, which makes me satisfied (:**

**Please enjoy the read (:**

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**3. COMEBACK**

FOUR MONTHS HAVE gone by since _they _left. Nothing's really changed, Bella's still inside that shell of her's, dad's still constantly working, and me, I've been doing my daily routines. When I'm at home, I feel alone—which is stupid since I have Bella, but just peering a look at her far-off, dazed face made me feel like I was alone.

Never mind that, I haven't seen much progress in Bella at all. It upset me sometimes, that she couldn't just stop wallowing, and move on. But, I knew deep down, that she truly loved He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Their love just wasn't puppy love, it was real, deep into the heart's core. Perhaps that's why Bella always clutched her chest when something reminded her of him—I was starting to gain a greater understanding, and being gentle with Bella.

"Miss Swan?" Asked the teacher. He sounded a tad irritated.

I looked up, blinking several times. A few people giggled—I must've looked funny—which made me flush hot in the face. The teacher, Mr. Meeker, seemed displeased, staring at me sternly. I gulped. A stern Mr. Meeker meant more homework for everyone, and I did not want to be that person that damned the whole class with extra homework.

"Yes?" I asked, clearing my throat.

"Please describe the U.S. Constitution." He demanded.

My mind went blank, just when I needed it. Ding-dong great. I hurriedly searched my brain for any source information. All I got was a mental image of my dad's tired face, and Bella's frowning face. That was all that I could think about these days. My dad's been working far too much.

"Miss Swan?" Mr. Meeker pressed, his eyes narrowed.

"Uh," I began. Just say anything, Liv, "they were branches of the government?" I said uncertainly. My friend, Kendra Marks, was behind Mr. Meeker, and she had her Textbook up, page open, and she was pointing at something that read _The Three Branches of Government._

The teacher frowned, seeming disappointed. I bet he was hoping I'd be wrong. "Hm, then please describe the branches."

Why was he picking on me? Sure, I wasn't paying attention, but, still, why me?

Kendra pointed them out, and I read them out loud, "There is the Legislative Branch—congress—the Executive Branch—president—and finally, the Judicial Branch—the supreme court?" I breathed, looking up at Mr. Meeker hopeful. My face was still hot, but I chose to ignore it.

He looked down at me, with a raised, grey bushy eyebrow, and turned. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I exhaled. I sent Kendra a small smile. I was highly aware of the other kid's eyes on me, some were sniggering behind their hands.

"Good job, Miss Swan, but next time please be present on class. I don't want you wandering off in that little head of your's." Said Mr. Meeker, sternly.

All I did was nod quickly. Anything to get the attention off from me.

Anything.

For the rest of the class, I had my chin raised up in the air—showing Mr. Meeker that I was still paying attention to class, even though my mind was distracted. He kept on shooting me glances—no doubt wanting to pick on me once more, and make a fool out of me.

I sighed happily when the bell rang. School was over—Social Studies was my last class for the day. I slung my backpack on my arms, making sure I had everything ready, before walking away from this horrible class. I loved History, but the teacher who taught it, not so much.

The halls were crowded, kids around my age were talking happily, some making plans for the weekend, some laughing, and some preferred to stay quiet, like me. I pushed my way through the crowd—not hard, but to make the people just standing there move out of the way. Some shot me nasty looks—which I responded back with a shrug. I didn't need to be stuck here any longer. It wasn't raining outside, and I wanted to take that as an opportunity to rush home. I didn't want to get drenched. Yep, I walk home after school since Bella comes out later than I do.

Kendra had tutoring everyday, so we couldn't walk home together.

To my immense luck, it wasn't raining. I smiled faintly, staring at the darkened clouds, looking viciously back at me, I looked at the vivid green trees, with their brown trunks, that already had moss growing on them. You wouldn't see this back in Arizona, that's for sure. There was traffic—parents picking up their kids, or older siblings ordered to come and pick up their younger siblings, were here already.

No one was here for me. If someone was, I'd hear a loud, distinct roar, or see red and blue headlights stand out from the pile of other cars. I imagined that if my dad were to come pick me up, traffic would slow down, and there wouldn't be as much honking. I winced when two cars were about to collide.

More maddening honking followed.

I was quite thankful that no one really picked me up. Bella nor dad had to trouble themselves with these traffic jams. I enjoyed my walks—when it didn't rain, at least. I didn't have to worry about other cars behind me because I'm driving too slow. Psh.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a flash of curly golden hair. My head turned to get a better look, only to find Arthur Forbes, my crush, standing on the opposite sidewalk from where I stood. He was waving at me, a smile on his face. I stopped dead on my tracks, my cheeks beginning to flame. I turned around—who was he waving at?—but there was no one behind me, except for a bench. He wouldn't be waving at a bench. There was only one other option; he was waving at ME.

That couldn't be it. Why on earth would he be waving at me?

"Hey, Liv!" He called, catching my attention once again. I looked up, surprised that he knew my name—my preferred name no less.

Realizing that I've been standing there like an idiot, I slowly waved back. Though, it was more of a weak half-wave. I flushed. "Hi?"

Arthur smiled, beckoning me forward with his hands. It took me a couple of seconds to register that, since all I could think about was him and his smile, or that I could hear my erratic heartbeat in my ears.

I have super-hearing now.

With each step I took, I felt my breathing come faster. I was a nervous wreck. I bit on my lower lip, and stopped two feet away from him, staring at him with confusion. He merely grinned, walked the two feet so that he was now standing beside me.

"You live other there, right?" He pointed to where my house resided at. I nodded meekly, not trusting my voice at all at the moment.

"Well," He continued, "do you want to walk with me?" He sounded nervous, too, which eased me off a bit. He was cute. His suddenly red cheeks made him adorable.

His grey eyes locked onto mine, and I could see my reflection in him—I looked tiny. That wasn't the point though, his eyes reminded me of the clouds that hanged above us at the moment. His eyes were nice. No objection.

Again, I nodded, but smiled shyly.

The walk was awkward, to say the least. None of us spoke. Sometimes, I saw Arthur open his mouth, but later close it. I myself wanted to say something to break the pregnant silence, but found I found out that I was just too nervous to say anything. If I did end up saying anything, I knew I'd stutter like a fool.

I hated it, to say the least. This wasn't what I imagined my first time being with Arthur alone. Heck, we weren't even holding hands. In my embarrassing day-dreams, we'd be kissing like no tomorrow, or we'd be holding hands and just talk forever. Like we were super-duper close. Right now, we were about a half a foot away from each other.

"So," I began, building up enough courage, "what brought this on?"

He looked at me, "Nothing, really. I just thought we'd walk together, ya know? Since we are kinda heading the same direction, and uh, I'd thought that each other's company would make our walks fun-er."

"Oh." Then my brows furrowed, but my heart was beating quickly again, " Our walks?" As in plural? I added silently in my head.

Arthur turned red, staring ahead, "Uh, yeah. I'd thought we'd walk together each day... if you'd like, of course." He said quickly, staring at the ground.

I didn't want to sound too eager, so I let a few seconds—okay three seconds, but that's better than just answering right away, right?—pass by, before I answered. "Yeah, I'd like that." I blushed.

He now looked up. I think I saw his lips curling upwards. I couldn't investigate much further since something ahead caught my eyes.

There was a stray dog, it was medium sized. It had shaggy grey fur, it looked dirty. I saw it walk along the sidewalk, coming closer and closer, until it was just five feet away from Arthur and I. I stared at it, the boy beside me forgotten—the world is ending, folks! I kneeled on my knees, and beckoned it, whistling poorly. Yep, I suck at whistling. I couldn't even whistle to save my ass.

The dog cocked it's head to the side, it's dark brown hazel eyes stared at me, its tail wagged behind it. I grinned. I've always wanted a dog.

"Hi there," I cooed. Who cared if it had fleas, I'll just wash them away—if dad left me keep the stray—which, I want him to. The dog neared me, its tail going left-to-right quickly, it made me laugh. "Hyper, are ya?"

It was a guy. I checked, quickly. I flushed, standing up, not caring that my knees were wet at the moment. I wonder if dad would let me keep him. I sighed, cooing to it. "Come here boy, follow me, that's right."

"You want to keep it?" Arthur asked from beside me. I jumped.

I stared wide-eyed at him, trying to calm my jumping heart, "I-I want to. I need to ask permission, though." I really wanted to keep him. I felt bad seeing the dog out in the streets.

He nodded, grinning. "That's a Border Collie. I have one, too. Her name's Shasta."

"Like the soda?" I mused.

"Yeah." His eyes twinkled as he observed me. I smiled.

"Hm, I wonder how'd I name him. Coke? Pepsi? Seven Up? Doctor Pepper? Squirt?" I pondered, staring at the dog. "I'm gonna name him after a soda, too."

"Okay... hm, Squirt sounds good," He sounded humored. I looked up, following his gaze to see my dog—soon to be, I hope—jumping on puddles, splashing water here and there. I smiled brightly.

"Yep, Squirt fits him." We both laughed.

Laughter is the solution to for awkward moments.

Still, as we walked, Squirt walking beside me—I had to call him when he strayed off—the silence wasn't as painful as before. We would occasionally catch each other's eyes, and quickly look away, me blushing bright red. Arthur would comment random stuff, which I would comment with even more random stuff. It was fun-er now. All thanks to Squirt.

"Well, this is my hood." I joked, stopping in front of my house. He looked behind me, grinned, before meeting my eyes again.

"Nice hood." He then looked down at his feet, turning pink. "Uh, can I, er, have your number? I mean, you know—in case we need help with our homework—we do have three classes together, you know." He stuttered, playing with his hands.

I flushed myself, and nodded meekly, "Sure." I said brightly.

Taking out my phone, I asked him for his number—vise versa. We both said our hushed farewells, still embarrassed. It began to drizzle lightly, not enough to soak Arthur, but enough to get him slightly wet. I asked him if he'd like an umbrella, but he said he liked rain. Something we both had in common, I pointed out.

"Wow," I breathed once inside my home, staring down at Squirt, who was sniffing the coat hanger—we'd gotten it before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named left. I thought it'd be nice, just like in those TV shows who had coat hangers by their doors.

Squirt wagged his tail, peering up at me.

"We need to take you a shower. I don't think Bella'd like you if you're all dirty. First impressions are always the best—that's what my mom, Renee used to tell me." I murmured sadly. I really did miss her.

I lead Squirt upstairs, into the bathroom, then into the bathtub. I didn't know what shampoo to use, but he was a guy, and I don't want him to smell like a girl, "So dad's shampoo it is!"

Squirt thrashed around, jumping all over the place. I laughed when he shook his fur out, throwing flecks of water my way. I struggled, trying to wash off the shampoo, but managed. When I was finally done, I sat back, staring at Squirt, who had his fur all fluffy. I grinned.

"I should've named you Fluffy." I mused.

He looked at me, cocking his head to the side.

"Hey, it fits you." I protested. "Fine, Squirt it is, Squirt—ahh!"

Squirt began to lick my face. It was ticklish. "Squirt—stop—Squirt!" I squealed like a girl, trying to push him away, failing miserably. I laughed, as Squirt oh-so-innocently sat back, wagging his tail with his tongue out. "You and I will get along pretty well."

He barked.

"Liv, what was that?" Asked my older sister, Bella. She came into the bathroom, gaping at the grey Collie, who was staring at her curiously. I flushed as her eyes wandered all over the bathroom, taking in the wetty mess. Then, they landed on Squirt, her dark brows furrowed.

"Um, I can explain." I started, getting up. "Well, you see, d'you remember how I always used to say I wanted a dog? Well, meet Squirt!" I beckoned said dog, who just continued to sit. "Okay, we need to practice—he still doesn't know his name's Squirt." I muttered.

Bella continued to stare at the dog. "Squirt?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Squirt. Arthur helped me pick it out."

"Arthur?"

My face heated up. "Uh, um, a boy from school." I rushed out, staring at Squirt. Huh, he's still a little wet.

"Oh," Bella said in a tone I recognized as shock. I turned to look at her, confused. She was looking at me weirdly, like something had slapped her across the face. Her face said it all—she was envious. But why would she be envious? Arthur?"

Then it hit me; I was liking someone, a boy, who was close to me—while the boy she loved wasn't here, and I had my crushy-crush close to me. It was a wild guess, but I tried to ease off her envy. I didn't want Bella to feel envious towards me.

"So, how was your day?" I changed the subject as I grabbed some towels and began to dry off the floor. I felt Bella's eyes on my back.

"Normal." Was her simple response.

I nodded, trying to find something worth talking. It was hopeless though. Even if I did try to converse with her, she'd just end it curtly—she wouldn't be into our conversation. Why force her? If she didn't want to talk, I was okay with it. When she did want to, I'll be there for her. Simple as that.

Nodding, I finish up cleaning the wet floor. I peek a look at Bella from under my lashes, only to see her staring at me oddly. I quickly look away, not liking the emotion in Bella's eyes. I wanted to make her happy, positive, not negative. Drenched, I get up, and try to smile.

"So, wanna make something to eat?" I asked, trying to sound bright.

"Well, I was wondering, if you'd like to go to the movies with me?" She asked. I saw her trying to fight off the emotions on her face, and settle back to Zombie Bella.

My mind reeled. "Can we go after dad comes?" I asked, hopefully.

"Why?" She asked.

"Squirt. I don't think dad'll act kindly to a dog in his house." I mused. A smile curled on my lips, I couldn't fight it off.

She nodded, "True."

We got out of the bathroom, with Squirt following after us, smelling everything on his way. Already was I warming up to Squirt. Back in Phoenix, I couldn't get a dog because Phil disliked them.

Yet, he still are Hot Dogs.

He claimed they were the best food invented.

Psh.

There were several occasions were'd I could've gotten a dog—my old friends would ask me if I'd like any puppy, but I would have to refuse. All thanks to Phil. Though, I guess Phil made it all up by buying me a turtle I'd named Dory.

Yep, ultimate Finding Nemo fan over here.

"I want a cat for my birthday," I said out of nowhere, smiling.

"Keep on wanting." Dad's teasing came from the hall. I hadn't noticed Bella and I were downstairs already. Man, I should really start paying attention, my mind's been spacing out a lot today.

My eyes darted around for Squirt, but there was no sign of him.

"What the—?" Dad's confused voice made me squeak.

I rushed forward, seeing Squirt and dad staring at each other. Dad still had his gun on hand. "Dad! No, he's mine!"

He looked up, startled at my outburst. Dad looked down at Squirt, then back up at me. "Since when?" He huffed.

"Today, actually," I flushed, "um, can I keep him?" I gave him my best puppy eyes. I must've looked stupid. But dad just stared at me, then sighed.

"We'll see. If he's a good dog..." He trailed off.

"He is, trust me!" I exclaimed, smiling brightly—even if I only knew Squirt for less than an hour. Then I tackled dad into a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Dad patted my back, "Er, no problem, kiddo."

A smile was present on my face as I pulled away. I beamed down at Squirt, my smile still present on my face. I rushed towards him, "You're officially mine, boy."

He merely wagged his tail at me, and began to lick my face. I laughed, pulling away from his wet tongue, looking up at Bella—who by now had arrived at the scene. She looked at dad, mildly surprised.

"Why are you here, this early?" She asked him. Come to think of it, it was pretty early.

Dad raised a thick eyebrow, "Can't I not come to my own home, early? Don't my daughters want me?"

Bella shook her head—she didn't even blush, like she would've if she weren't acting all zombie-ish. "No, just wondering."

"Let me guess," I piped up, "there's a game on." Dad smiled. "Bingo, I was right."

"Anyways," Bella spoke again, "Liv and I are going to the movies—girl's night out." She said off handedly, grabbing her coat that was on the coat-hanger.

I blinked when dad turned to look at me. "Uh, yeah, we're going to go watch...?" I turned to Bella, clueless. I knew watching a romance movie was off limits—Bella wouldn't sit well with watching two people smooching each other, with their love-sick faces on the screens. Besides, I wanted something thrilling. I wanted something scary—I wanted my mind to get distracted.

"Well, I asked Jess if she'd like to come, but she declined. But she did mention this movie I'd thought you'd like." She said. I was aware that she didn't want to say the movie's title in front of dad—probably not wanting to hear his objections towards it. Dad's frown went unnoticed.

"Didn't you invite anyone else, Bella?" He asked, staring quizzically at her.

"No," She stated bluntly. I admired her now-a-days bluntlessness—she sometimes said the truth.

Dad didn't seem to like the answer. He didn't seem like wanting to complain, so he bid us a farewell—he was rushing through it, maybe wanting to see the game. I left Squirt up in my room, with an old bowl—dad didn't want it— filled with water. Dad promised me he'd buy Squirt dog food when the game was over, since we'd probably not be back by then.

The car ride to the movies was uneventful one, not that I'd expected anything fun to occur. Bella liked her quiet, and I respected her wishes. I let my mind wander, but it only flew around dad, Bella, Arthur, and Squirt.

I blushed when I focused more so on Arthur—my imagination seemed adamant of us kissing, laughing. Just being free and happy with ourselves. I longed for it. With or without Arthur—I just wanted all this mess to clear up, so everything could back to normal like when we first arrived to Forks. No Cullens, no He-Wh-Must-Be-Named, anyone. I wanted to go back in time, were Bella didn't know he even existed—where it was just Bella and I, two sisters moving in with our Father.

Sadly, this was reality, and reality seemed to always slap you across the face, laugh at you, taunt you. It made you see that not everything's a fairy tale. That life could suck, a lot.

"What movie are we seeing?" I asked finally, when my mind went back to the different choices of movies that would be playing. I side-glanced over at Bella, who was focused on the road in front of us, her pale hands holding the steering wheel.

She had her lips pursed. "I was thinking about this... zombie movie—"

"Oh, _Dead End_?" I beamed, almost jumping on my seat. She looked at me, her brown eyes truly wide.

"Yeah, you want to see that?"

"Sure. I could use a distraction." I shrugged, already looking forward to watching the movie—I kept that up until we got there.

The movie was playing early. Bella had suggested we eat after the movie was over—I had asked if we could go the McDonalds, which she complied. I smiled when we took out seats in the back of the theater room, my arms carried a bucket of popcorn. Bella said she didn't want any of it—which meant the whole, big bucket, was all _mine_.

I groaned inwardly when I saw a lovey-dovey couple enter the theater room, holding hands, grinning at each other widely, displaying their puppy love for everyone present. I knew —by the way Bella stiffened in her seat—that she'd seen them, too.

"I thought this was a zombie movie," I said quickly, wanting to draw Bella's attention towards me to distract her from the couple.

She said nothing, but firmly kept her eyes on the screen as the movie began to play. Up until now, no one was getting their brains eating. No horror has happened. I ate my popcorn, watching the movie—watching Bella too, just to see how she was doing. Her fist were clenched. I frowned. The light that gave off the screen made Bella's pale hands glow, making her clenched fist even more frown-worthy.

"I'm getting more popcorn," Bella said in a hushed tone, taking the bucket away from me, then stood. I didn't even get to protest, because she was already making her way out.

Bella didn't come five minutes later. I couldn't count how long she'd been absent, since the action had just began. Zombies ate a girl's brain out. I gagged at the scene, but didn't scream like the people that surrounded me. I didn't want to seem foolish. Plus, I knew this was fake, so why scream when everything was... not real?

Finally, Bella came back. She handed me my now re-filled bucket—along with a soda—silently. I looked over at her, frowning.

"You took a lot." I whispered to her, biting on my salty-tasting lower lip.

"Long line," She offered, or more like lied. I sighed.

The rest of the movie was epic. Some of it was gruesome, Bella would cover my eyes at times so I wouldn't see some scenes, which I protested indignantly. She ignored my complaints—much to my dismay. It wasn't until the end that Bella's face crumbled—not from fright, but from realization—she watched as an emotionless zombie persued the heroine of the movie. My own face crumbled, too, as I realized what Bella's mind analyzed of the scene.

She was the zombie. She knew that.

I didn't object to her leaving. I understood perfectly. After she'd left, the movie wasn't as interesting. I guess it had to do with the fact that it made Bella feel depressed, or bad. It made her see that she was a_zombie. _I hated the movie from now on then.

When the movie ended, I met Bella in the hall, sitting in a bench. I forced a smile on my face, trying to seem chirpy for her. She looked up, stood up, and lead us outside—I dumped the empty bucket in the trash on the way.

We were making our way towards McDonalds, both of us silent. I was torn; I wanted to say something comforting to her, but at the same time, I wanted to let her by herself—let her think. She looked forward, hands on her jacket's pockets. I don't even think she realized it was chilly. I shivered, tightening my sweater more around my body.

Suddenly, she stopped walking.

I stopped, automatically, confused. We were standing in front of bar with neon green letters that said 'One Eyed Petes'. Standing in front of the bar—now that I got a closer look at it, it looked like bar—were four men, not old, but not Bella's or even my age. That wasn't the point here, though. What really mattered of this whole situation was the fact that Bella was looking at them, her eyes were squinting—it looked like she knew them. From where, though? Why would she know men that stood in front of a bar, with cool motorcycles? Unless, she was a rebel now, sneaking out of the house at night—which I found impossible, since I did sleep with Bella almost always. Bella always woke up screaming, sweat pouring down her face. She was having nightmares. No doubt about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Bella?" I said, my voice drifting along the chilly wind, "What are you doing?" I tightened my jacket even more tight. If dad were here, he'd be screaming at us to get away from these men, harmless looking or not. They were strangers, "Stranger anger." I reminded Bella.

At first, she said nothing, but took a dazed step forward, eyes locked onto the men. It was a couple seconds later that I heard her voice. "I think I know them..." She muttered.

Bella took another step forward, after a dark man called her, "sugar". I shivered, furrowing my brows.

I was beginning to panick, "Bella? Bella, come _on_." I whispered feverishly, taking a couple steps forward, myself. I tugged on Bella's sleeve, trying to swerve her to the right direction; McDonalds. Not towards these creeps.

Heck, they might not be creeps. They might be the Teenage Ninja Turtles.

I peeked a look at them.

Damn, no they weren't.

Even with me tugging on her sleeves, she continued to take a step forward. My heart was beating wildly—not like the way it did with Arthur—and now, I was a tad frightened. After all, we were alone, in a dark street, with possibly four drunk men, encouraging Bella to come forward, while I, tried to pull her back. I wanted Dad here—he'd had his gun out, threatening the guys to leave his daughters alone, for sure.

A small whimper escaped me as she stopped a few feet away from them. I tried to look bold, like a brave thirteen—soon to be fourteen—old girl, who wasn't scared of four men standing in front of a bar. I made myself known beside Bella's side, trying to look confident in their presence. My lower lip is going to hurt later—I was biting way too hard.

"Liv," Bella acknowledged me for the first time, looking down at me with surprised eyes, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to pull you back," I breathed. I saw my breath turn misty against the cold air.

She pursed her lips, turning back to the curious looking men. I saw her open her mouth, but she said nothing.

In that moment, I saw her freeze. Her face was contorted into one of utter shock—like she something in her snapped, and finally made her see her surroundings. I would've questioned her behavior, but I was too preoccupied on the men, who were running their eyes down Bella's body—she wasn't even aware of that at the moment, for she seemed distracted at something inside their heads.

This made me sick to the pit of my stomach. I was growing furious—how dare they stare at my sister? Those sickos! My jaws clenched when their eyes wandered over to me, looking up and down my body. My eyes narrowed into a glare, and I don't know what made me speak so strong, but I was proud.

"Stop looking at us," I spat. I was too mad to even analyze my actions at the moment.

One of them, a blonde haired man—he was good looking, I'll admit, but that didn't lessen my quick dislike towards them—smiled at me, flashing his small teeth. I stared at him.

"Aw, isn't this little one feisty?" He asked his friends, who all grinned in response. "Aren't you a cute one?"

I inhaled sharply, clenching my fist that wasn't holding onto Bella's sleeve. "Shut up," I barked. Despite all the situation, my face began to warm. I gulped, but tried to look brave for both Bella and I.

Speaking of Bella, she took a sudden, cautious step forward.

Their attention turned to Bella—who still seemed unaware of the men looking at both of us.

I want my dad here.

A cop.

A protected, poppa bear cop.

"Bella," I said more forcefully, and in result, I caught her attention. She took on look at my face, her brows furrowed, before she looked at the men who were looking at us, once more.

"Oh." She whispered, now aware of the scene we were at.

"Can we leave?" I pleaded, widening my eyes.

She nodded quickly, placed a light hand behind my back, before leading us away from the men. I was thankful—I didn't want to stand in their presence much longer. We were now around the corner, where we were met by the sight of more people, in the lights, were _cops_ were at.

I did notice that Bella still seemed in a trance. I noticed that her eyes would occasionally shift to something around—which surprised me at first, because she was observing her surroundings. Something she hasn't done in quite a while.

It wasn't until I couldn't withhold the giant bubble of anger inside of me, that I snapped at her. "What the heck was that, Bella?"

She looked down at me, blinking her brown eyes. "I'm sorry." She murmured, at loss of words.

"Sorry?" I exclaimed, incredulously. "Those men were looking at us... _ickily_." My jaws clenched again, and I closed my eyes, trying to clear those images of them checking us out away. What if they'd done something to us?

"I-I'm sorry, Livi." She said, staring forward.

I didn't say anything else.

We ate silently—Bella still on a trance. I took this as an advantage to stare at Bella, openly. I noticed that she did notice her surroundings, like something had snapped inside that mind in her's, and made her comeback to the real world. I was startled, not expecting it to happen with these men we recently saw. I was beyond mystified, too utterly confused to speak. I didn't know what to ask Bella—all I could think of was; what happened back there?

Obviously, something had happened back there. Something that helped Bella come back to Earth. It made be blink several times, trying to process all this new information down. The reason it took me a couple of minutes to process it was because; I couldn't seem to believe that Bella changed not twenty minutes ago. Even if the proof was sitting right across of me, chewing on her french-fries—the thought of having my sister return back to be was enough for me to stop breathing for a few seconds.

"Liv, are you alright? You seem too pale." Said Bella, concern etched her tone. I breathed finally, staring at my sister with quizzical eyes.

I nodded slowly, drinking from my soda, while I tried to stimulate a good question that made sense—a question that didn't come off to strong when I asked. It was easy to find one, once I knew what I wanted to know.

"What happened, Bella—back there, with those men?" I tried to avoid those men in my head. "Something's obviously changed."

She stared at me, eyes wide, like she once again just realized something important. Immediately, a frown curled down her lips, and she stared at my face, searching for something. I waited patiently, hopeful, that I'd at least get some answers.

Bella didn't say anything, and then she driving us back home. Suspense was eating me out.

Hearing the roar of the truck abruptly stop, I looked out, confused. We were now outside our home—whoa, the car ride was quick.

Inside, dad was waiting for us. He asked us how it went, and I smiled and told him it went fine—no need him knowing about those men. Bella seemed almost relieved that I didn't blabber that out—did she not know I was not a tattle-tale... anymore?

I've grown out of that stage. But it was fun ratting out Bella to mom.

"Where's Squirt?" I questioned dad, looking up the stairs. "Is he in my room?"

"Yup, I bought him some food—like I promised," He grinned tiredly at me. "Well girls, up you go to your rooms. I'm tired. 'Night girls."

"Night dad." I patted his shoulder as he passed by me. Bella mumbled her own good nights. Then, dad was upstairs, inside his room.

Both of us trodded upstairs, silently. I was about to open my room, but felt something light touch my shoulder, halting me on my spot. Confused, I turned to look at Bella, who was staring at me with those eyes of hers—eyes that now had a tiny little emotion. I was immensely happy for her, something had happened.

"Yes?" I asked politely. Bella made an effort to smile.

"Come, I need to tell you," She breathed, leading me to her room.

She flickered on the lights to her room as we entered. She sat down on her bed, staring down at her joined hands, not looking at me. It seemed like she was choosing her words carefully. I was pleased with the silence, it made me prepare myself for the slow blow—I knew something weird happened back there, and I needed time to prepare myself carefully.

Though, I was distracted, to be truthful. I couldn't rub off the men's stares that seemed to burn all over my body—it made me feel quite uneasy. I twitched a few times. I tried to think of other things, like mom, Squirt, Arthur. Nothing seemed to help. I let out a shaky breath.

"I-I don't know how to explain it," Bella breathed finally, looking at me, then back at her hands, "but... but I saw _him_, Liv." She stressed, running a hand through her hair now. "I heard his voice, Liv. I heard him clear—like he was standing right next to me. He told me to go away from those men, with you. He said to keep my promise, and not do any reckless things. I obeyed... Liv, I'm stupid, I know—but I _need _to hear his voice again. When I heard it, I felt like everything—the world—came back to full volume. It was as if I had the world was on mute, but when I heard his voice—the world seemed to be loud in my ears, like I could feel everything around me—hear, too."

It made sense, really, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named made her make a comeback. I mean, he was the one who made her into this zombie, and he's the only one who can undo it. Not that I won't try to break Bella from her zombie-state. But, I felt jealously towards him. Stupid, lying, perfect _him_.

I looked at Bella. She was staring at the floor.

I hugged her from the side, clenching my jaws so I wouldn't say anything stupid. Bella was well, or was in recovery, and I won't ruin it just because I wanted to act like a jealous brat at the moment.

That night, Bella didn't scream—that night, was the first time in like what seemed like forever that I had a nightmare.

Later that night, it wasn't Bella who woke up. It was only me, shaking, staring at the dark room. I didn't want to wake Bella up, she needed her sleep.

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night, until it was four in the morning, and rain began to hit the roof of the house.

"No dreams," I told myself, as I drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

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**A/N: I want to know what you think of this chapter, so please review and yeah. I want some reviews, people, I love them. For me, this site is just like Facebook. A review is like a someone that 'Like's my status! I know, it's stupid... but review, and it'll motivate me much, much, MUCH more! I'm begging!**

**Also, Jacob is appearing next chapter (; He'll hand you a virtual cookie, if you'd like! Never mind, he's mine... but you'll still get a virtual cookie... so...**

**REVIEW!**


	4. DECEIVER

**A/N: I am unconditionally and irrevocably sorry for updating this late. I know what's going to happen in the chapters, but I'm having trouble writing them down. Get my gist?**

**Anyways, trying to regain some of my spirit or whatever, I've taken it within myself to write a Harry Potter fanfic. I have one (yeah, yeah, I know, a little bit) chapter written down, and I'm still not sure if it's time to publish it. . . opinions? It's a Harry Potter/OC, by the way, but a slow Harry Potter/OC. I'd like to see if you'd be interested in reading it?**

**By the way...**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! WE START A NEW YEAR; 2013! YAY!**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

**4. DECEIVER**

"YOU KNOW, I don't know why Damon puts up with Elena—he can have me." I told Kendra over the phone as I watched The Vampire Diaries on the TV. She giggled, and I imagined her shaking her head and rolling her eyes at me.

"What? What about my poor Stefan? He shouldn't put up with her either!" she protested. It was now my turn to roll my eyes at her, even if she couldn't see it.

"Let 'em. He wants her, he gets her. Damon still has a chance to get away from her clutches. I'm sorry bestie, but your man has been smooched off," I said, laughing when she hmph'ed loudly.

"I hate Elena," she said curtly. "Why does she keep all of them?" she whined.

"Amen, sister from another mister." I said, "She's a she-devil—that's why." I answered her, scowling as Elena began to talk to my Damon.

Kendra sighed dreamily. "They're all so yummy!" she squealed rather loudly. I winced away from the noise.

"Hey!" I yelled as loud as I could into the phone, "DON'T DO THAT!" I smirked when I heard the phone make a "thmph" noise. It must of fallen to the floor. Mission accomplished. I should totally be a superhero, or an undercover detective—I should ask dad.

"Vivienne!" she screamed, but I was prepared. I had already put the phone away from my ears. "You're gonna pay! Watch, when I see you at school tomorrow. . ." she trailed off angrily.

I giggled. "Ooh, is that a threat, Dumbledore?" We had an inside joke about her name. Since Kendra was Dumbledore's mother's name. . . and her last name was Dumbledore. . . okay, it isn't that funny. . .

"Oh shut it, Ugly Duckling." she grumbled.

"That later turned into a beautiful swan—I think. I haven't read that story since when." I grinned.

"You and I both, friend." she sighed. "Damn, T.V.D. ended."

"Aw," I pouted. We both stayed silent, and watched the little teasing glimpses for the next episode. I raised my eyebrow, "Elijah is cute." I said casually.

She gasped dramatically, "Oh no you did-int! Are you cheating on Damon Salvatore?"

I widened my eyes, and mock gasped. "No! He's my one and only."

"Okay," she agreed. "You better not cheat on my brother-in-law." she warned.

"Same goes to you," I warned back. We both giggled. "Ah. . . we're stupid."

"You said it."

"But," I began, "Elijah _is_ cute."

Kendra made a muffling sound. "Eh, Klaus is better."

I narrowed my eyes. "Nah-uh!"

"Ya-huh!"

"Nope."

"Yep."

"No, Dumbledore."

"Yes, Ugly Duckling."

"Hey, what about Squirt? Where is he?" she asked, wanting to know about my new dog. Like me, she always wanted a dog, but her dad wasn't a dog's greatest fan.

"Sleeping upstairs, in my bedroom." I grinned.

"Aww," she cooed. "So cute. Can't wait to see him!"

My phone began to buzz, alerting me to an incoming call. I frowned, checking the Caller ID, and it read Bella. My frown deepened—why would she be calling, in work hours? This wasn't part of the routine she set up. Something must be up.

"Ugly Duckling?" came Dumbledore's voice, "You there? Hey, we should have these as secret, ninja codes."

I smiled. "Definitely. Uh, Dumbledore, I gotta go. Bella's calling. . . So. . . ?"

"Oh, right. Sure. Well, bye, then. See ya' at school Liv!"

"See ya' Kendra."

When she clicked, I immediately answered Bella. "Hello? Is everything alright? What's wrong? Do I call dad? Bella?"

Bella sighed into the phone. "I'm alright, Liv. Nothing's wrong."

"Then why are you calling me. . . during work hours?" I asked, surprised. The earlier anxiousness disappeared when I heard Bella's recovering, clear, growing voice. Even if it wasn't fully back to normal, like her old voice, I sought comfort in it like I always did before Edward left—yeah, I decided to start calling him by his name, again. It was my way of showing him and his fake ghostly appearance thanks for bringing my older sister back to the world.

"Mike let me out early," she explained dully. That hasn't changed.

"Oh," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere." she stated, trying to make her voice sound casual.

The corners of my lips twitched. "Sure!" I responded back too eagerly, but I didn't care. Bella hasn't asked me to go anywhere—besides to the movies, obviously. I was glad that Bella wanted to go somewhere, and even pleased that she wanted to go out _with_ me. She hasn't forgotten about me.

"Where to?" I asked, still smiling.

She hesitated, "To the Black's."

"The Blacks? As in Billy Black, Jacob Black—_the_ Blacks?" I don't know why I was making a big deal out of it. But I was just a curious, happy and excited girl at the moment. "Why?"

Bella sighed. "I—I. . . Liv, this is a secret, okay? You have to keep it a secret. From Charlie especially."

"Dad," I corrected her—it was automatic, like two plus two equals four. Usually, I'd get upset if she called our dad by his first name, but right now, I was too happy about Bella to even care.

"And," I got back to the topic, "Bella, I'm not a little girl. I've kept plenty of secrets myself." I said proudly. "Remember that time we broke mom's glasses when we were little—actually, it was really you who broke them, but that's not the story here, right?—and you asked me to not tell mom—to keep it a secret? Well, I kept my secret." I reminded her.

"It's not that I don't trust you," she began slowly, "but this is big. Cha—dad won't approve."

I felt a thrill of excitement. "Something dad won't approve of?" I breathed, my eyes widening. "I'm in! What's our little secret?"

Okay, I realized I was being bad our naughty, but come on; I'm a teenager who's bound to break some rules! Plus, I'm doing this with Bella. . . I'm sure dad won't mind. . . much.

"So?" I insisted, expectant.

"I got motorcycles. . ." she said slowly.

My mind buzzed with dad's voice.

"_Do you two girls know how many deaths motorcycles cause_?" he had asked Bella and I.

"_Depends_," I remembered my seven-year old self frowning up at him as I answered. "_The driver has to be pretty awesome! An awesome driver can't die_!" I'd answered in awe.

Bella was twelve years old, and by far, much more mature. "_No, Liv. You're totally wrong._"

"_No I'm not—right daddy_?"

Dad had sighed, already foreseeing an argument. "_Girl, girls, please listen. The only reason I brought this up is simple; never, EVER ride a motorcycle. They're dangerous and deathly. I don't want any of my two girls to leave me. Do you both understand_?" he'd asked, his voice stern.

Motorcycles were pretty much banded. They were prohibited by dad for Bella and I to ride one—but I didn't care. Dad's warning was being locked onto the back of my mind, being ignored for all I care. I was being reckless, stupid, and crazy, but I'm a teenager, wasn't I? Besides, Bella held a tinge of interest for these bikes—something Bella hasn't been too keen on. This has been the first sign of keenness she's shown in months. I'm sure dad won't mind. . . if it brought Bella back to us, right?

I did feel the guilt, I really did, but I pushed it away. This was something both Bella and I wanted to do. Dad didn't need to know. It won't hurt him not knowing, so I don't see the problem.

"Okay," I said, keeping my tone now casual. "That's freaking awesome, Bella!" The casualness disappeared completely. "But why are we going to the Black's?"

"Well, the bikes aren't at all grand." she sighed.

I instantly caught on. "So you want Jacob to fix them?" I summed it up.

"Yes."

My brows furrowed. "But how are you gonna pay him?"

"With college money. . .?" she seemed uncertain. "Or, a bike for himself."

"Wow, Bella." I breathed, somehow awed. I never thought I'd live to see a reckless Bella.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I already called dad—he knows where we're gonna be. He also gave me the instructions to Jacob's house."

"How many bikes are there, exactly?" I asked, dying to know.

"Three," she answered. "One for Jacob—though I'm still unsure if he's up for this—one for me, and one for. . . you," when she said one was for me, her tone seemed to be regretting the decision.

"Really? I get one too!" I asked quickly, breaking any train of thought of her's that might be regretting getting me one.

"Great, so I assume you're up for this?" she asked me. I could now hear the distant roar of her truck.

"Definitely."

"I'll be there to pick you up soon," she said. "Bye."

"Bye," I said gleefully.

It was hard to really keep my mind concentrated and only concentrated on things beside motorcycles and. . . dad. It was hard because, well the first one was out of excitement and giddiness. I couldn't wait till I was riding one, with wind slapping my face as I skyrocketed through the streets at high speeds. It was also hard to keep my mind off my dad because I knew I was doing something he had made Bella and I promise never to do. I was guilty, and I knew this was wrong, but my mind and heart were both telling me different things. I just didn't understand the complexities of both sides. I was torn.

But, I told myself, I could somehow slide off my dad's promise, but still keep my promise. . .? Did that make any sense? In a way, for me it did. It meant that I was going to have to cheat my way out of that promise. It meant that I was going to have to deceive my poppa. A frown formed my lips at the thought of this, imagining his disapproving face.

How long would I be grounded if he found out?

Forever, probably.

A quiet whine made me break out of my thoughts. I looked down to see Squirt standing there with his four legs, looking up at me expectantly, his tail swaying behind him slowly, almost lazily. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, trying to get chipper again.

Where had the happiness gone to?

"What's up, boy?" I asked, kneeling down. He immediately came over, and began to lick my face. I covered my mouth with one hand so he wouldn't lick it. I gagged playfully, saying: "Eww!" to annoy him. He stopped, and sat down in front of me, looking at me with that expectant look again.

I looked at the stairs, my eyes traveling upstairs where my bedroom and his food were at. Was it possible that Squirt had ate all the food? My eyes widened in mild surprise. It was possible, I considered, because I have noticed him eating quite a lot.

"Doo-ya need more food, Squirty?"

He was responseless. I pursed my lips, and sighed lowly. I jutted my head out to the direction of the stairs. "Let's go see if you have food. I'm sure you have water."

I was right. Squirt did have water, but his food bowl was empty. He'd stayed in my room after I told him I was going to be gone, and didn't follow me when I exited the room.

I was waiting outside—I had already locked up the house—waiting for the familiar roar of Bella's truck when I heard something peculiar; a wolf's howl. I was startled and amazed. My favorite animals were wolves, then lions, and then elephants. And even though they were my favorite animal, I'm sure I wasn't their favorite anything and won't hesitate to pounce on me. I shuddered to think of that, and waited anxiously for Bella to hurry up. I kept on shooting wary looks at the wood's treeline, prepared to make a run for it.

Then I heard it; Bella's arrival.

She stopped, not even parking, in the street, and waved me over quickly. My eyes quickly drifted to her truck's bed, and noticed a huge bulge, covered in a blanket. My heart skipped a beat and a smile stretched my face. Those were the bikes. The motorcycles.

It was raining as I jogged my way over to the truck's passenger seat. When I was finally sitting there, wet and smiling at Bella widely, I said, "So, let's go."

She nodded, and mutely began her way towards the Black's familiar route.

Bella seemed worried and anxious. I questioned this.

"Is something up, Bella?" She seemed startled, as if forgotten I was there. I scowled.

"Well," she began, squinting at the mirror, "I'm hoping Billy won't answer us, but Jacob instead."

Something else was troubling her, I could tell, but I decided to back off. "Oh, yeah. Me too."

I wanted to see Billy, and Jacob, too. So when their familiar small, wooden place with narrow windows, and dull red painted house came into my view, I smiled widely again. Their house resembled a tiny barn. Suddenly, Jacob peered out of a window, before Bella had even parked the car, and I was surprised to feel a jolt of happiness at the plain sight of Jacob Black. I squinted my eyes, trying to pinpoint why he seemed so different.

I got out of the car, my hoodie on and my hands inside my sweater's pockets. I smiled when Jacob was already walking towards us with amazingly long strides, and met me halfway. Bella was still getting out of the car, I think, or just didn't want to catch up. Either way, it didn't seem to matter because Jacob had my whole attention.

He was different. He looked different. His long, jet-black hair was still the same, but this time it was loose. His smile was wide and brilliant, perfect straight teeth. I envied that. He didn't need any braces—I did, well I used to. He seemed to be gaining a bit of muscles. The veins in his arms were becoming much more prominent under his rich russet-y skin. His face hardened, too—his cheek bones seemed sharper, his jaw squared off. It seemed he was aging. Fast. I was happy to realize that the usual boyishness still remained. I guess somethings don't changed.

I was shocked that I hadn't noticed these changes last time I came here. I had been too focused on the electric current thingy to even really absorb Jacob in. I flushed.

"Liv!" he said happily, smiling widely, running up to me and wrapping me up in a hug. I flushed deeper, and wrapped my arms around him, too, laughing lightly.

"Jacob!" I used the same tone as him, beaming. It felt great to be near him. It was as if I'd missed him without me even knowing. "How are ya'?" I asked after he'd pulled away.

"Good, good." he bobbed his head, his eyes shifting back to glimpse at Bella. "Oh, hi Bella." he called over, smiling at her, too. His eyes flickered back to me, then back to Bella, a crease forming in his forehead. "So what's the occasion—not that there has to be any occassion for you two to be here," he added in quickly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right. I bet you want us away," I put my hand in my chest, smiling.

"No," he frowned. "I don't."

"Whoa," I breathed, just having realized something else. "Um, Jacob, you're freaking tall!" I exclaimed, surprised. "I feel really, really short," I scowled at him, narrowing my eyes.

"Six five" he announced proudly. His voice was deep, huskier than last time.

"Wow," I said, shaking my head. "Don't worry though, I'll catch up soon. So stop, will you—so I can catch up?"

"Yeah, Jacob, you're huge." Bella said from behind me. I jumped, surprised. She just popped out of nowhere!

He grimaced. "Still a beanpole, though."

I giggled. "_Beanpole_?"

He rolled his eyes. "Come inside! You two are getting all wet." Then he pulled something out of his pocket, and tied his hair. I smiled, amazed that a guy was tying his hair. In some sense, it seemed even fascinating.

Inside his house, Billy was reading a book. He didn't seemed to have heard Bella's truck.

"Hi, Billy." I greeted cheerfully

He looked up from his book, surprised. "Well, look at who showed up!" he smiled, his eyes looked behind me to see Bella, I guess. "Liv, you've grown quite a bit from the last time I saw you," he commented.

I flushed at the compliment. "We saw each other I think not even a month ago," I grumbled, smiling. "And yes, I have grown. An inch."

Jacob laughed from behind me. "An inch?"

"Not everyone grows at an abnormal state, Jacob." I narrowed my eyes. "So ha—ha, it's funny." I hated it when people said I was short because I really wasn't. I was tall for my age. Heck, I was as tall as Bella herself—I'd gotten that trait from my dad, unlike Bella who got it from mom.

His eyes widened all of a sudden. "Oh, uh, I wasn't making fun of you. Just the. . . amount. . ." he trailed off uncertainly.

"Don't worry," I shrugged. "I was acting."

"Oh," he said, smiling relieved afterwards.

"Well, it's good to see you too, Bella. Haven't seen you in a long time. How's it been?" he asked. Billy was looking at Bella casually, but I had an itching feeling that he was observing her closely. Observing her reactions.

He wheeled himself over. He handed the book to Jacob to hold, and extended an arm to Bella to shake. Billy turned then turned to me. He was much like a father to me, I'd known him since like forever—not literarily, but for a long time—and I grew up with him sort of. So it was only reasonable that I bended down to hug him. He chuckled deeply, patting my back as I started to pull away.

Billy smiled at me. "Is everything okay with Charlie?"

Bella answered. "Yes, absolutely."

"Why?" I asked, my brows furrowed.

He looked back at Bella, who stood behind me, observing the Black's house in.

"Nothing, just wondering what brought you here." As he said it, he reached for his book again. Jacob handed it back.

"Oh, just wanted to see my good ol' friend, Jacob." I grinned at Jacob who's eyes had brightened. He grinned back. "By the way, did you like my gift?"

His eyes widened. "Totally. The shirt was awesome, and so was the CD. And the letter. And the Toolbox." He grinned as he listed everything the box had contained.

I blushed. I had given him a letter because I wanted to congratulate him. I also wrote other stuff like; thanks for being a friend, you're awesome at mechanics, wish you the best, and that I hoped he got everything he wanted. The shirt was blue, with a collar. It was simple. But I liked it and picked it out for him. The CD was from this band he liked. And well, the toolbox dad had gotten that for Jacob.

"The toolbox was from my dad." I added in.

"Thanks, though." he smiled at me brightly. It was contagious. I smiled back.

"Can both of you stay for dinner?" Billy asked, sounding happy. I looked back at Bella, unsure. After all, Bella was the driver. . . with the car.

Bella hesitated. "No, I gotta feed Charlie and Liv."

"No." I said, pursing my lips. "I could make myself eggs."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'll call him," Billy suggested. "He can come over."

"No, tha's alright," Bella quickly protested, laughing fakely afterwards. Billy and Jacob didn't notice this. They didn't know Bella Swan as good as I did. "Plus, Liv and I will be here quite a while. You'll be wishing we'd leave." she said.

Billy chuckled. "Okay, okay. Maybe next time."

"Yep," I sighed. I really wanted to stay.

We left then, leaving Billy alone again. We were walking outside, the rain had paused.

"So," Jacob looked at me, then at Bella, "what do you guys wanna do?" Jacob asked.

I shrugged. "S'not much," I looked at Bella in the corner of my eyes. Should we tell him we have motorcycles now?

"What were you doing before we came?" Bella asked.

Jacob hesitated. "I was just heading out to work on my car, but we can do something else. . ."

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Rabbit?" He nodded enthusiastically at me. Last time I came to Jacob's party, he'd shown me the car he was working out. It looked like a lot of work, but I knew for sure that Jacob would finish it. "How much have you progressed since I last came?" I asked curiously.

"Almost finished," he said proudly, a smile curling his lips. And then his voice dropped into a lower key. "My dad made good on his promise last spring."

"Ah," Bella said.

_Ah_ what? What promise?

Seeing the confusion on my face, Jacob thankfully explained. "My dad paid me last May to go to Bella's prom to deliver a messege about the legends I told you last time."

What Jacob meant by last time was when Bella decided to bring me along to her La Push beach trip with her other friends. Jacob had told Bella and I some legends about his tribe that were pretty awesome. I especially found the one where men turned into wolves—as if they were werewolves.

"Oh." I said dully. "Okay."

There was a pause.

"Jacob, how much do you know about motorcycles?" Bella finally asked. I sighed in relief. I thought she was never going to bring that up.

"More or less. My friend Embry owns a dirt bike and we sometimes work on it."

"Embry," I tested the name on my lips. Jacob looked at me swiftly.

"You know him?"

I flushed. "No. I was just testing out the name."

"Weird, isn't it?" He laughed. I grinned.

"Well," Bella cut in, shooting a me stare. I remained quiet, letting her continue. "I recently got some bikes, and they're not really at all that grand. I wonder if you could get them running. . .?"

I waited for Jacob's response.

"Awesome." He seemed happy, pleased almost. As if Bella'd given him a challenge. "I'll give it a try." His face was glowing.

"But you can't tell my dad. Or Billy, either." I added in. "It's a secret."

"Sure, sure." Jacob smiled. "I understand."

"Pinkie promise," I held up my pinkie, serious. Jacob tried to make his smile to disappear, but just pursed his lips instead.

"I pinkie promise." And then we joined pinkies. Like the last time when we'd made skin contact, I felt the familiar shocks and electric current passed through me. I was shocked, of course, fascinated by the sensation. I looked at Jacob, who looked back at me equally surprised.

"I'll pay you," Bella continued after Jacob and I had untangled our pinkies. I was still thinking about the sensation.

Jacob seemed distracted too, but managed to get out, "No. I want to help. You can't pay me," he said, in a offended tone.

"A trade then?" I beamed. "You get a motorcycle!"

Jacob brightened. "Really?"

"Yes," Bella agreed. "We also need to learn how to ride one—we need lessons."

"Sweet-eet!" he said. "So Liv's getting one too?"

"Yeppurz." I answered in a slurred voice.

"How old are you again?" Bella asked, uncertain.

"You forgot," he told Bella, but smiled at me. "I'm sixteen."

"Not that your age ever stopped you before," Bella muttered. "Sorry about your birthday. I was busy."

I resisted the urge to snort.

"Don't worry about it," he grinned. "At least Liv was there. And I missed your's, too. What are you, forty?"

Bella sniffed for some reason. "Close."

"Huh." I said.

Then Jacob turned to me, "And you must be twenty-one."

"Not really," I admitted. "More like sixteen."

"Maybe when the bikes are done—they'll be our presents to ourselves," Bella added.

"Deal. So when will they be here?" Jacob asked.

I looked at Bella, a smirk forming on my lips. "Actually, we already brought them along. . ." I said. I bit my lip, flushing.

This didn't upset him at all. "Great." He meant it. I think.

"Will Billy see us bringing them in?" I asked, frowning.

Jacob winked at me. "We'll be sneaky."

I winked back. "Together." I laughed at the expression on his face.

Back at the truck, Jacob was unloading the motorcycles. Bella and I watched in wonder as Jacob effortlessly lifted them off the the truck, and set them on the damp ground. The bikes looked rather heavy.

"Whoa, Jacob." I breathed.

He smiled. "These aren't half bad," he said once we'd taken them back to the garage—being sneaky, of course, together. "This one," he motioned to the one he was holding, "will be something when I'm done—it's an old Harley Sprint."

"That's your's, then." Bella confirmed.

"Are you sure?" he looked at Bella, then at me.

"Absolutely."

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

"They're gonna be worth a lot of money—their parts. . . We need to save up some money for the parts."

"We nothing." Bella said firmly. "If you're doing this for free, I'll pay for the parts."

"I don't know. . ." he muttered.

"I've got some money saved. College fund, you know."

"Yeah," I nodded again. "I'll even add in my own savings." I was saving up for a car in the future. I'll guess I'll start saving up again in the future.

Bella shot me a stare. "No, not even you. _I'll _pay, Liv."

I sighed.

Jacob nodded after a all made sense to him, and me, too.

This was great, I thought to myself. We found ourselves a perfect boy who would help us. Jacob seemed like a friend I've been needing all this time—a trouble, sneaky kind of friend. Now I had someone to get in trouble with, and best of all, to have fun with. Sure, my other friends were fun, but not in the andrenaline, adventurous kind of fun. Jacob was sent to me from Heaven.

Hallelujah.

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**A/N: I know, we barely saw Jake ^-^ But he will be appearing a lot, trust me. I already started writing the next chapter yesterday, and I'm proud of myself. So, did you like this chapter? Oh, and by the way, Jakey likes Liv!**

**Why?**

**Well, because she's his imprint. The whole reason Jake even started liking Bella because he felt a connection to her. We later know that the connection was Bella having Renesmee. So, since Liv is his future imprint and soul mate, he likes her. :P She sorta likes him too, but that liking is being overshadowed by the infatuation she has for Arthur ;) Jake won't like Arthur O:**

**Thanks for the previous reviews, I loved them! Please review again, and you'll get an imaginary hive-five from me! :D**

**REVIEW!**


	5. INVITATION

**A/N: So here's chapter four! Umm, it's not late as the last chapter ^-^ And for that, I'm patting my own shoulder, proud of myself. Okay so. . . yeah, we see Quil and Embry here! Oh my God, Liv is such an idiot -.- Why? Because she's clueless! You'll see why, though :P Oh, and sorry it was long -.-**

**Enjoy! :)**

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**5. INVITATION**

"WHOA," WAS THE first thing I said as I watched Jacob tear apart the parts from the bikes like it was nothing, but trust me, it was something. Jacob looked up at me and smiled widely, before turning back to the task in hand, his face turning red suddenly. "You got some skill." I commented, nodding approvingly. "Who taught you?"

"Nobody, really," he said, glancing at me again. "My friends and I are actually into building stuff. We taught ourselves."

"Oh," I said lamely. "Who're your friends—I don't think I've met them, have I?" I asked, furrowing by brows, trying to remember boys around Jacob. I do remember last year when I'd came to the beach, that Jacob had two boys flanking him. I remember Jacob coming up to talk to me, then go back to two boys that teased him when he sat down with them. I smiled, remembering he'd punched them playfully, his face flushing.

"I think," Jacob said, and stopped working on the bikes, "last year, in the beach. Ring a bell?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "A scrawny boy and a boy with some muscles?" I raised my brows.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's them. Quil and Embry."

"Quil and Embry?" Bella asked quietly from her seat in the Rabbit. I was once again surprised by her. She had been quiet all this time, thinking hard about something. "Odd names, aren't they?" she smiled.

I blinked several times. She _smiled_. I was happy for this, and surprised too because it seemed odd seeing her smile after so many months. I guess she's finally letting go? I shook my head, knowing that was not the reason. I don't think Bella would get over Cullen. He'd been her world, her light, her everything—and he left her. Her world became dark, a lonely, depressing abyss. I think I was beginning to understand her a bit more, but I knew I would never truly understand what she was going through. I hadn't felt the love she felt for Edward. Heck, I only love my parents, Bella, Squirt now, too, and my friends. But I hadn't felt the love Bella experienced.

A part of me didn't want to. I mean, look at my parents. My dad and mom loved each other, but then they broke up, and my mom fled away with Bella and I, leaving my dad heartbroken. Look at Bella; she had experienced the bliss called love, and she's also experiencing the torture of heartbreak.

No thank you. I don't want to fall in love and later get heartbroken—I don't think it's worth it.

"—don't make fun of their names, though." Jacob laughed. I looked up from the ground, then proceeded to look between Jacob and Bella in confusion, wondering who I wasn't supposed to make fun of. "Or else they'll tag team on you."

I instantly caught on. "Quil and Embry. . . will?" I guessed, a little uncertain.

_Please don't let me be wrong, please don't let me be wrong_, I chanted in my head.

"Yeah, them. Don't worry though, if they decided to tag team on you, I'll help you." he reassured, going back to work.

I nodded. "Alright. We'll make a bad ass team, Jacob. Liv and Jake—the awesome of supreme awesome."

"'_The awesome of supreme awesome_'?" Bella repeated me, raising one dark eyebrow.

Jacob on the other hand, grinned. "I like the sound of that."

"I'm glad," I tried to make my voice sound business-mode.

"Jacob?" a voice suddenly called.

Right then and there, it was safe to say that I. . . panicked.

"Oh my God, it's dad!" I whispered frantically, bouncing forward to I could help Bella stand. She looked panicked, too, and shot Jacob a questioning look. Meanwhile, I was ready to barf. "Oh God," I groaned.

So maybe I wasn't acting like a freaking-cool-trouble-making-rebel. But here's the important thing; I was a freaking-cool-trouble-making-rebel in _training_. Can anyone blame me if that voice happened to be my dad? Ah no, no. No, no!

"Is that Billy?" Bella asked, her voice low.

I did not want to get caught. Not at all. Who wanted to spend the rest of their life grounded? I sure didn't!

"It's okay—it's Embry and Quil," Jacob reassured us, his smile amused.

I glowered in his direction. "Not cool," I muttered. "Not cool at all, Jacob."

"What?" he asked innocently, but then his laugh gave him away.

"Jacob! Are you there?" another voice yelled.

Jacob stopped laughing. "Crap. Speak of the damned," he sighed, "and the damned shall come." He looked at me briefly, before yelling, "Yeah, I'm in the garage."

I wasn't sure if he made that saying up, and I didn't bother to ask, because my eyes were focused on the entrance of the little garage. I had relaxed a bit—that was the good part—but the bad part was that I stumbled while shifting my feet, and fell on the floor.

"Ah!" I yelled, and instinctively put my arms out to steady my landing. My palms touched the ground, and they ached a bit, but I managed to keep my face from meeting the ground. I closed my eyes, exhaling, and counting my head to five. I was trying to calm my erratic heart, and also, I was trying to clear my head from the flooding embarrassment I felt all of a sudden. I knew two people were watching me, and those to people weren't Bella and Jacob. They were. . . Embry and Quil.

"Uh," Bella said somewhere from behind me. I felt her hands on my arms, and I felt her trying to lift me up. I blushed crimson, and opened my eyes, but kept them steadily on the ground.

"It's okay," I mumbled. "I can stand, don't worry. Thanks, though." This is what happens when I'm nervous; I get clumsy. Good thing it only happens when I'm nervous—Bella on the other hand is clumsy all the time.

Someone snickered in the background. This added to my further embarrassment as I stood up, and dusted my hands—I still wasn't looking up when I pulled some hairs away from my face. I felt stupid, and awkward. So, so _stupid_.

"It wasn't funny, Quil." Jacob snapped, making Quil, who was snickering, stop. I felt a rush of gratitude towards Jacob.

Unwillingly, I looked up to see Embry and Quil. My eyes were immediately drawn to the amused smile on Quil's face. I blushed even more, grimacing.

"Hi," I jutted my head in their direction.

Quil was the first one to speak out of him and Embry. "Hi there, you must be the youngest of the Swans, right? You're Liv?"

He was the one with the muscles—but they weren't big or grand at all. Sure, they showed against his tight shirt, but that's all. The boy next to him, Embry, was a bit taller than Quil, and he was lanky, and seemed to be the quiet one out of the three. I made an effort to smile, and nodded in response to Quil.

"Oh," he nodded, his eyes drifting behind me to stare at Bella. He then looked at Jacob, back to me, then back to Jacob again, wiggling his eyebrows now. "I've heard a lot about you, Liv." Quil said in a taunting tone, staring at me again.

I nodded, unsure what to say. "Uh, okay."

Jacob interrupted whatever Quil was going to say next. "So, what's up?" he asked sharply, narrowing his eyes at Quil and Embry.

Embry shrugged. He put his hands on his pockets, and kicked the ground. "Nothing much."

"Yep, nothing much," Quil agreed. "So. . . aren't you gonna introduce us, Jake?"

Jacob clenched his jaws, narrowing his eyes at his friends. "You already know them."

Quil nodded. "Well, I only know Liv because you talk about her. You never talk about her sister," he said and stared at Bella, while smiling impishly at her.

Bella smiled back.

I watched Jacob's face turn red. I looked back and forth between Jacob and Quil, wondering what they've said about me. I hoped it wasn't bad. I mean, have I acted bad around Jacob? I don't think so. . . _Or,_ Jacob might've talked to them about the presents I got him. But Quil had said he talked about me all the time—and for that, I had no suitable explanation.

Jacob sighed, "Quil, Embry, these are my friends; Bella and Liv." He pointed to both of us when he said our names. "Bella, Liv, these idiots are my friends, Quil and Embry."

"Hi," Bella greeted, and shook the hand Quil had outstretched.

"Why hello, Bella," he said, wiggling his brows. A smile spread on my lips as I watched Quil attempt to flirt with my sister, but Bella didn't seem to be affected—or she just didn't know that he was. I resisted the urge to burst out laughing when Quil awkwardly went back to Embry, frowning. Jacob was smiling too, amused by Quil's disappointment.

"So what are you guys doing?" Quil asked casually, his eyes drifting towards the bikes. I gauged his reaction, and was relieved to see interest in his eyes. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but still, I was relieved that he wasn't reproachful or anything.

Jacob grinned now. "Liv, Bella, and I are building bikes," he said. I smiled as both Embry and Quil jumped at his sentence, and began to question him all these technical question about mechanics and how he was going along. I smiled, amused by their eagerness, but my smile turned a bit upside down when Jacob frowned, his eyes turning to look at me, his expression almost sorry.

"What up, Jacob?" I asked, a bit worried. What had I done?

He looked down at the pieces on the ground Quil and Embry were now observing, shaking their heads and muttering something too low for me to hear.

"Your bike. . ." he sighed, "Your bike is useless," he told me straightly.

Disappointment flooded in me. "Oh."

Bella looked a bit relieved because of this, "I'm sorry Liv." At least she tried to sound sorry. "I guess Jacob and I are the only ones with bikes—good thing, too, since you weren't old enough to drive, anyways." She made an effort to smile at me.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I grumbled, and clenched my jaws. I was really looking forward to riding a bike. I guess everything was going too good to even be true.

"We could share, if you want," Jacob suggested.

I shook my head. "Naw," I said, "it's okay. Bella's right."

"No, really. We could share. I could teach you, and we could take turns riding. I thought the whole point of building these was to have a little fun?" he asked, looking at Bella and I. I considered this, my eyes on the bike that was supposed to be mine. All I could think was; damn.

I just had to get stuck with the useless one.

Bella shook her head from the corner of my eyes, but I ignored her for once. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." he smiled widely at me. I smiled back.

Bella sighed, annoyed—I guess. "Liv, we have to go."

Her words disappointed me again. "Aw. Right _now_?" I whined. This seemed to make Jacob delighted.

"Yes, right now." Bella said firmly. "I need to cook for Char—dad." she corrected herself dully. She turned to look at Jacobs, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, but we really need to go."

He frowned. "We're boring you, aren't we?" He looked at Embry and Quil, as if they were to blame.

I shook my head behind Bella. He caught my eyes, and smiled, rolling his eyes.

"No." Bella said. "Honestly."

"Can we come back tomorrow?" Bella asked. This made Jacob happy.

I decided to tease them, and pretended to scoff. "Hey, don't you think I've already made plans for tomorrow?"

Jacob's face fell.

"Do you?" Bella challenged.

"Yes," I lied, sort of. "I have a date." Jacob blinked several times, and with each blink, his face seemed to fall even more. Bella was surprised, too, as were Embry and Quil. "What? I can't go out?"

No one answered.

I smiled then, rolling my eyes, "Naw, I was joking—no date for me. But I am busy tomorrow. Kendra and I have to finish our project that's do tomorrow." I shrugged.

Jacob sighed loudly, and Embry and Quil grinned at me, while nudging Jacob. Bella narrowed her eyes.

"Ha. Ha." she muttered. "And you're doing this last minute?" she asked, her tone with a hint of disbelief.

I just shrugged, and said, "What can I say? I was busy this month."

"_You had a month to do this!_" she said, widening her eyes.

"Er, yeah?"

She grabbed my arm lightly, and began to lead me out of the little garage. "I guess it's only me and you tomorrow, Jacob."

"Oh," he said, a little disappointed. He squinting his eyes at me. I stared back at him, raising an eyebrow.

"If you make a list tomorrow, we could go shopping for parts for tomorrow." Bella suggested.

"I'm not sure if you should pay for everything," Jacob grumbled, looking away from me.

"No, it's the least I can do."

"It just doesn't seem right," Jacob shook his head.

"And if I went to a mechanic with these," she pointed at the bikes, "how much will they charge me?"

Jacob smiled half-heartedly. "I guess you're right. We have a deal."

"Not to mention the riding lessons," I piped up. Quil and Embry were whispering something to each other, and both began to chuckle. I shrugged.

"That's it," Jacob muttered, "get out."

"We have to go, Jacob. They can stay. Bye." Bella began to pull me away.

I struggled to walk on the muddy ground, and complained to Bella to let go of my arm. She did. I turned to the garage, and yelled, "See ya tomorrow!"

There was some shuffling, and then Jacob was suddenly at the entrance of the garage, looking both confused and elated. "Huh? I thought you weren't coming tomorrow?" he breathed.

"I'm not." I agreed. "But my dad might want to come like in the evening." I shrugged.

"Right," he nodded, the smile that had appeared getting small. "See you then," he sighed.

"Bye." I waved.

Jacob waved back, before going back inside to the garage. As soon as he was back, Embry and Quil chorused, "Wooo!"

The sound of a brief scuffle followed, interspersed with an "ouch" and a "hey!"

"If either of you set so much as one toe on my land tomorrow. . ." I heard Jacob threaten. His voice was lost as Bella and I walked through the trees. Both of us giggled quietly Bella stopped, and I turned to look, wondering why. She looked shocked—shocked by herself—and stared at me with wide brown eyes. I smiled, and giggled at her funny face. She joined in, too, a bit awkwardly, but she laughed. That was all that mattered.

When we got home, I greeted dad with a hug. "Hey dad," I smiled, pulling away. A yawn escaped my mouth. "Phew, I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Bella flashed dad a smile as a greeting—it nearly made him get a heart-attack. I giggled tiredly, and sighed afterwards. She looked at me, frowning. "Aren't you going to eat."

I shook my head, and grabbed the granola bar in front of dad. "Naw," I waved the bar in the air, "I'll just eat this. I'm not that hungry. Serious."

"Oh, okay sweety. Goodnight." Dad kissed my forehead, and I kissed his cheek.

"Night then." I yawned.

"Night," my dad and sister chorused.

Up in my room, I was also greeted by a restless Squirt. He jumped me when I opened the door, and licked my face. I tried to pry him away, giggling madly. "Okay, okay! I missed you too!"

I went to bed, kicking off my shoes. Squirt climbed up too, and curled his furry body against mine. I pulled the blanket over us, and closed my eyes. And for the first time in about four months, I did not wake up in the middle of the night to Bella's screams.

I felt fresh and wide-alert when I woke up the next morning. I blinked my eyes open, and snuggled into my pillow. Squirt squirmed beside me, but became still, and let out a heavy sigh. I smiled faintly, and closed my eyes, ready to go back to sleep.

It was a great, and happy relief to have woken up without problems. I slept soundlessly, and my dreams consisted of adrenaline, wind, and utter happiness. I sighed in complete bliss, trying to get that dream back again. I wanted to sleep in—it was a Sunday today, which meant no school until tomorrow. I could lay in bed for the rest of day. . . doing _nothing_. Now _that _was a dream come true; doing nothing. I might be lazy, sure, but I least I worked my butt off when required to.

There was a knock on my door, and Squirt instantly sprang up from bed, and began to growl at the door. I rubbed my eyes tiredly, groaning, "Who and what?" This better be a good reason to interrupt my process on going back to sleep. "Sh," I said to Squirt, patting the bed. He reluctantly got onto my bed again, but kept an avid watch on the door.

"It's me, Bella." my sister said. Squirt instantly relaxed, having recognized the voice. "It's nine in the morning—don't you want me to take you to Kendra's?"

My eyes widened. "_Nine_?" I mumbled incredible incredulously. "You're waking me up at nine?" I grumbled.

"Don't you have a project due tomorrow?" she countered. "That you haven't even finished?"

"Kendra and I just need a little details." I lied. Honestly, the project wasn't _that _hard. I mean, okay I'll admit, Kendra and I did wrong by waiting last minutes. But we'll be done in no time!

Turns out, I was wrong.

When Bella dropped me off at Kendra's, and left to Jacob's, Kendra and I were a mess. We had a lot to do; paint, wait for the paint to dry, paint again because the final result of last time didn't look so good. Wait for it to dry, and look for information. Then we had to make the complicated information into our own words—which was super hard when you didn't even know what the internet was saying in the first place—and then we had to build our atom; Potassium. It was a lot of work.

"Almost done, girls?" Kendra's mom asked, smiling at us warmly.

"Yeah," we both lied, shooting an anxious look at our drying electrons, neutrons, and protons foams. Why was it taking so long?

She shot us a stare that told us she didn't believe us. She sighed, shaking her head. "It's almost six, Livi, and Bella's going to pick you up." Mrs. Marks left the room, muttering something about time and project.

I looked up, and rubbed my temples. "Right, I forgot." I moaned to Kendra. "Only twenty-four more minutes left."

"Hey, I'll finish it—don't worry Liv." Kendra promised. I shook my head at her.

"No, I can't let you do that." I frowned.

"Don't worry. All we have to do is—"

"Is glue the parts into the atom, and type out the information." I ended for her. She nodded slowly. "But hey, what if I type if out, and print it out tomorrow at the library? Deal?"

She smiled, a bit relieved. Kendra held her hand out, smiling at me. "Deal."

I quickly began to typed out the information—in my own words, of course—and was remarkably half-done by the time Mrs. Marks came back into the room, and told me Bella was waiting for me outside. I winked at Kendra, "Almost done. I'll finish when I'm at home, okay?"

"Alright. Bye Ugly Duckling." Kendra said, and waved at me as I began to walk towards the Bella's truck.

I turned, and waved back. "Asta luego, Dumbledore." I said in a bad Spanish accent. We both giggled, and Mrs. Marks laughed.

"Goodbye Sweety," she told me. I smiled sadly. I missed my own mom.

"Bye—Elise," I said her name. She smiled at me in approval. She always told me to call her by her first name. I guess I was going to have to start now.

I turned to stare at the car, and stopped dead in my tracks. I cocked my head to the side, squinting my eyes at Bella's passenger side. Someone was inside, already seated. As my eyes adjusted a bit to the darkness, I could faintly see a familiar figure. I walked forward, and the figure began to become more and more clearer.

"Hey Jacob," I smiled, a bit surprised at seeing him here.

He grinned back at me. "Hi Liv," he said, waving enthusiastically, while opening the door for me at the same time.

I rolled my eyes. "You didn't need to do that," I said, slinging my backpack onto my lap. Bella eyed it dubiously, and then turned to stare at me with stern eyes.

"Are you done with your project?" she asked, while bringing the truck to life.

"We did a lot of progress," I said, trying to keep my voice casual, and my face neutral.

"So you're not done." Bella sighed, disappointed.

I grimaced, vowing my head. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I know I shouldn't have waited last minute—that was my mistake, I know."

The only thing Bella ever wanted me to do was be good in school, yet look at me; waiting until last minute to do homework. I felt as if I had wronged her, or done some shameful sin. Bella expected me more than this, which made me feel a whole lot worse. At least she sounded. . . stern. If she were back, deeper into the shell of her's she'd been for the last four months, Bella would've just told me to do better, in a dull, lifeless voice. Now her voice was strict, and even though I hated it when someone used a disappointed tone on me, or reprimanded me—I would gladly let Bella do it. At least she was showing some type of emotion.

"Don't be," Bella said softly. I glanced up, looking at Bella, and saw my sister peer through—just barely, but I saw her.

It was quiet then, and I was confused when we passed by our house. I was about to ask Bella where we were going, but Jacob beat me to the punch line.

"We're going to my house." he explained, smiling wistfully. "My dad and your dad, and Harry Clearwater—I don't know if you know him—and his family are over there already. We're gonna eat spaghetti."

"Goody," I brightened. I was starving. The name Harry and last name Clearwater did sound oddly familiar. The first thing that popped into my head was fish when thinking of that name. My nose wrinkled. I wasn't much of a fish fan, but my dad was.

"So," Jacob began, "what were you doing? What's your project about?"

I shrugged. "Nothing much," I admitted. "Just build a model of the atom Potassium—though each group was assigned a different one, like my other friends, Valerie and Monica, were assigned Helium. Lucky butts," I grumbled under my breath.

Jacob startled me by laughing.

My eyes widened. "You _heard _that?" I wondered, a bit awed.

He nodded, still laughing. "Yeah," he said finally, after having stopped laughing. "I have good hearing, I guess."

"Figures," I muttered. "Tall, good-hearing, strong?" I eyed his arms that suddenly had strong meat—meaning he was starting to get muscles. My eyes traveled back to he embarrassed face.

"I'm Super-Man. Haven't you noticed?"

I snorted. "You wish."

We continued to banter until Bella stopped in front of Jacob's house. I peered out curiously, seeing other people. I saw a kid around my age smile when Bella pulled up. Jacob sighed beside me, muttering something around the lines of, "Great. Seth."

I was assuming the kid was Seth—and that he might be Jacob's admirer. But I couldn't blame this Seth kid, either. Jacob was someone worth looking up to; he had good grades, was awesome with cars and at building stuff, he was. . . good looking, I guess, and Jacob seemingly radiated some aura that instantly mad you happy. If Jacob were a girl, I would be looking up to him, too.

I wonder what his name would be, though. Bethany? Juliette? Olivia?

"Why are you smiling?" Jacob teased once we were out of the truck, and walking towards the people. Bella was walking beside us, and looked distant somehow. She was thinking hard about something, and didn't seem like she wanted to be interrupted.

My eyes found Jacob through the night, and I smiled. "Nothing, nothing." I lied. I wasn't sure if I would insult him if I did tell him why I was smiling.

"Liar," he playfully accused.

"Think what to want."

Before Jacob could respond, he was interrupted by the Seth kid. "Hi Jacob!" he said cheerfully, and glance at Bella and I. I waved at him, a smile in place. He waved enthusiastically at me, "You must be Vivienne—one of Charlie's daughters?"

Of course he would know. I frowned. "Yeah, but uh, hey. . . um, can you call me Liv, better? I like my name, but I prefer Liv/ And that's my sister," I pointed at said person, who snapped out of her La-La Land-ness and smiled at Seth.

The house was crowded when we got in. Seth's whole family was there, his mom, Sue, his dad, Harry, and his older sister who was undeniably beautiful in some exotic way. She reminded me of a real live Pocahontas. Admittedly, I was a little envious of her beauty. I'd say she rivaled Rosalie Hale's beauty. . . but Rosalie's didn't seem. . . natural? Leah's did.

Shaking my head, I greeted everyone. Leah didn't even turn to us. Well, she _was _talking on the phone. She had an excuse!

There were too many of us for the kitchen table—I had insisted on standing, but Sue had none of that—so dad and Harry brought chairs out to the yard, and we ate spaghetti off plates on our laps in the dim light from Billy's open door. The old guys talked about some game, and Harry and dad made some more fishing plans.

I grimaced. "Ew," I mumbled.

Dad grinned at me. "Aw don't be like that honey. You know you love fish!" he teased, while laughing along with the others while seeing my disgusted face.

"What? Not loving fish is like a crime!" Harry said dramatically. I scowled, blushing.

Sue rolled her eyes, and began to tease him about his cholesterol and tried, unsuccessfully, into eating something green and leafy. Jacob talked mostly to Bella and me—Bella was back to the present, thankfully. I had began to get worried. But I felt bad for Seth when Jacob kept ignoring him, and started a side-conversation.

Seth was funny. He said jokes with funny imitations. It was hard not to laugh!

"Say it again," I pleaded, giggling. "Say the voice again!"

He grinned, and cleared his throat. "Pwease mwease twease!" he said in a squeaky voice. I laughed harder now, and covered my mouth with my hand. Jacob frowned at us, and began to talk to Seth—which pleased my new friend immensely.

"You're funny." I grinned.

"Don't I know it." he said, grinning back.

It was a perfect night. . . even Bella was laughing. But like some saying says; it's too good to be true. I grimaced as I saw a familiar frown appear on Bella's lips, and glared up into the crying sky. My mom always used to tell me that when it rained, Angels were crying.

I sighed dejectedly. "I guess we're leaving," I mumbled sadly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, no?" Jacob asked a bit hesitantly. "Bella said you two were coming," he added in quickly.

All I could do was shrug, my mind instantly preoccupied with the word "tomorrow". Damn, I forgot about the typing! "I guess," I grinned weakly. Truth was, my stomach did various flip-flops at the thought of not finishing my part of the project. I guess I was going to have to stay up late.

"Bye!" I waved at everyone, while getting onto Bella's truck. Harry had brought my dad, so we were all going in the truck. I felt a bit happy when Leah looked at me, and nodded in my direction. Okay so. . . I might admire her. She's my new idol. I heard she got accepted into a great college! That's so great!

"Bye Liv!" Jacob called. I waved at him, and got into the car after dad—I had requested the window. There was nothing spectacular to see. The rain made the window all blurry, but it was an old habit of mine sitting next to the window, and staring out, letting my mind drift. . .

I tuned out dad's and Bella's conversation, feeling like an eavesdropper if I hadn't. My phone rang all of a sudden, and I picked it up, and stared incredulously both because I was shocked that it was six something in the night, and because the Caller ID said it was _Arthur._ I blushed furiously when dad stopped talking to Bella, and asked me who it was.

"Uh." I fumbled for my words. Very hesitantly, I said, "A friend."

"A friend?" he asked suspiciously. "Guy or girl?"

Busted.

"Guy," I admitted after a pause. I shot him a weak smile and answered Arthur's call. "H-hi?"

"Hi Liv," his strong, and great voice sounded through the phone. I became a puddle. "How are you?"

I shot dad a look. He better look away, and not listen. "Good," I told Arthur. "Your's?"

"A bit boring. . ." he sighed into the phone.

"Oh," I mumbled. "Why?"

"Because I didn't see you." his words came out quickly, but I heard them clearly. I was so going to get a heart-attack any second now. Bella better get me alive to the hospital.

I smile spread on my lips. "Aw," the words escaped my mouth now.

"I missed you." he said, sounding embarrassed while saying, but sounded a bit confident.

"Me too," I said after a pause. My face was on fire.

We were quiet for a moment.

"I like you, Liv." he declared suddenly. "A lot."

I was overwhelmed by the sudden declarations. I was happy, embarrassed, and a bit mad that dad was listening in. He was glaring at the phone. I glared back at him. I wasn't sure how to respond, but decided being honest was the best way to go. "I like you, too."

"You don't know how happy that makes me." he sounded elated. "So I was wondering. . . Do you wanna go out? Uh, on Friday, the week of Valentine's—I mean, isn't it coming soon?"

I nodded. I could die happy right here, right now. "Yeah." It was in two weeks or so, though. I frowned at how long I would wait until we went out on our date.

"You do wanna go out?" he asked, incredulously. "_With me_?"

"Of course," I frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"N-nothing." he sighed, "I just thought. . . you would want to spend it with your family or Kendra and your other friends. . ."

"Naw, they have plans already." I said truthfully. I had told Bella, dad and everyone else that I didn't want to do anything for Valentines. But if Arthur was asking me, I'll make exceptions then. So I was practically free to go out with Arthur! I was swooning right now.

"It's a date," he said the words that made my dad say _What!_

I grinned. "The hell it is."

This may have been the greatest day of my life, if it weren't for the damned project I had to finish. I sulked silently, and wished Bella would hurry up. Arthur and I clicked. He left me with only blissful feelings. Crap, was I falling in love? No, it didn't seem like it, but how would I know, anyways?

* * *

**A/N: Yep, she's clueless. She doesn't even know Jake likes her! -.- Ah well, she's just gonna have to find out later, and be more observant like Bella. I guess being clueless in boys runs in the family; since Bella didn't know Edward liked her, and in this case, Liv doesn't know Jacob like hers, either. She's too absorbed in Arthur to even notice Jacob's intentions :(**

**Poor my Jacob :'(**

**Aww thanks! I got ELEVEN reviews for one chapter :O That's like. . . like a RECORD for me! :D I was so excited, I showed off to my mom and brothers and friends, but they just gave me the "Wtf, does it look like I care?" look; o.O And I was a bit bummed out, which lead to the happiness I had to lessen -.- Sheesh.**

**AHH! So Jake's gonna know who Arthur Forbes is—_finally _:D CANNOT WAIT TO WRITE THE SCENE WERE THEY ACTUALLY MEET IN PERSON! SOME TENSION THAT'LL BE!  
**

**And sorry if there were some mistakes. I'll come back to them, and correct them! I promise (:**

**Oh, um, it'll mean a lot to me if you go check out my new story; _Euphoria_. It's a Leah/OC! Thanks a lot if you do go, and check it out! ^~^**

**PLEASE. . .**

**REVIEW! **


	6. CHANT

**A/N: ****Sorry for updating THIS late ._. My laptop's charger ripped D: And well, my laptop is out of battery. . . and I don't have money. . . But thankfully, my older brother let me use his laptop and allowed me to write 6. CHANT—and for my other story, too, of course. Wow I'm so amazed at the amount of reviews i got! THIRTEEN! YAY! :D**

**Um, sorry this is SOOO long. Please read? Jacob tells Liv and Bella about Sam's cult problem, and Embry is involved. . . I know you already know this :P Anyways, I might have to quote Jacob from the book because I think the information is vital to the story! :D Also, we JACOB MEETS ARTHUR, ARTHUR MEETS JACOB!**

**Whoo! . . . -.- Well, I'm a little bummed out. I had this PERFECT scene already written, until my laptop decided to turn off. . . and I HADN'T SAVED IT! Ahh I was horrified, and had to re-write the scene. But I liked how it turned out ;P Hope you guys like it too!**

**Thanks everyone! I am supper glad that everyone is liking this story, reeealllly, I am! \(^O^)/**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

**6. CHANT**

DAD LOOKED LIKE he was going to explode any second now.

I anticipated this, which was the only reason why I was sitting relaxed, with my phone neatly put in my pocket. I stared out the window, trying my hardest to ignore my dad for the time being—Bella's slow driving wasn't helping. The air felt oddly uncomfortable at the moment, and I was suddenly cursing at Arthur for calling when my dad was present. Then again, Arthur didn't know my dad had been listening.

"_Date_? _You and a boy_?" Dad asked incredulously after a long pause, his face still red. I made an effort to keep the irritation off my face. Did he not think boys would ask me out? I mean, sure, Arthur's the first one, but the time would've come—and I guess the time came just now.

"Yes," I nodded importantly. "A date. With a _boy_." It was harder than expected to keep of of my annoyance off my voice. I grimaced inwardly. I was doing a terrible job at keeping my expressions cool.

Bella made a muffled noise—which caused me to look at her. She was staring at the front, her pale hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. I wanted to say something to her, and try to make her less tense. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

I wasn't at all sure what to say. Bella seemed distracted, again, but not enough distracted to crash the truck, and kill us all. I was a bit pleased by this, knowing Bella was back in the world, but a bit disgruntled that Bella was a bit tense and in pain. The pain was in display on her face; her lips curled down, her eyes squinted, and her face was twisted. The reason I was disgruntled was because I thought _I _caused that face somehow. I had no words to say. No apologies poured out of my mouth. I was a pathetic sister.

My dad didn't seem to have noticed this. He was staring me down, with a raised dark brow, confused. "This boy's name is. . . Arthur, yeah?"

Trying to distract my mind, I focused more avidly on my dad. "Yeah."

"Last name?"

"What? You're gonna look him up?" I tried to sound teasing, but I wasn't in the mood.

Dad shrugged. "Maybe."

I sighed.

"Forbes. Arthur Forbes." I said dully. He made a grunting sound, before all was once quiet again.

When we arrived home, Bella dutifully parked the truck. She shot us both a small, forced smile before getting out of the truck without a word. Dad and I were left alone, a bit stunned, and I don't know about dad, but I was a bit hurt. She wasn't going to talk to me anymore? Was being reckless actually not helping anymore? I worried about this, and got out of the truck slowly, watching my step, and put my backpack on my arms, too lazy to sling it on my back. Dad got out after me, and closed the door. We both trudged along, silent, and wondering what was wrong with Bella. She had seemed so happy tonight. . .

"G'night, dad." I mumbled, hugging him.

He hugged me back, and ruffled up my hair. "Goodnight blonde."

I glowered at him. "Aye, respect the hair! It's _not blonde! _It's a light, golden brown—for your information. I got it from mom," I stated proudly.

Dad rolled his eyes. "Don't think I forgot about you and your date," he frowned. I made a face. "Go to sleep, you have school tomorrow."

"M'kay," I said. "Bye."

It was quiet. Eerily quiet. I was a bit nervous, wondering what Bella was doing. So going to her room and asking if I could use her computer was an excuse to monitor her behavior. I quickly walked up to her room, and pressed my ear to her door. No sound. I frowned now, worried. Quickly, I knocked on her door, anxious for a respond.

"Dad? Liv? What's wrong?" Bella asked softly from the other side of the door. I wanted to ask her the same exact thing; what's wrong? But of course I knew Bella didn't like suffering while other people watched (like me), so I refrained from asking.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, it's Liv." I waited for a response, and when I didn't get one, I continued. "I was wondering if I could use your computer. . .?" Now I was a bit hesitant.

There was some shuffling, and then Bella was opening the door. My eyes were instantly drawn to her tired face, the way her eyes were looking around. She seemed almost reluctant to something—as if fearing something that was to come. It took me a second to figure out what that was. She was fearing what caused her screams at night. She was fearing what made me wake up, startled and worried, at night. . .

"Come in," she ushered me in with a flick of her hand. She opened the door wider, and let me in. She closed the door after me, before turning to stare at me quizzically. "So, you said you didn't have much homework, right?"

I wasn't sure were she was getting at. "Yeah," I agreed slowly, studying her face. "Just a bit, don't worry. I just need to type stuff from a notebook Kendra and I wrote down, into the computer."

She was quiet for a moment, staring at me with slightly narrowed eyes. Bella looked to be thinking hard about something, and then she sighed tiredly, her face falling. "Want me to do it?"

My mouth fell open. Bella always told me to do my homework whenever I used to ask her if she could do it for me. If she'd told me this a year ago, I would have gladly let her do my homework. But now, it seemed as if I were to take advantage of her by saying "yes". I shook my head, closing my mouth.

"Don't worry. I _want _to do it." she said, staring intently at my face. She tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. "Please. You'll be doing me a favor by letting me."

"Is this because you don't want to go to sleep?" I ignored her last request. My jaws clenched.

"N—no."

"Bella," I sighed, and dropped my backpack to the floor. I wasn't sure if I could hug her, because she was hugging herself with her own arms. I tried to make my voice soft and reassuring, like she used to do when we were younger, and I'd tell her the boogy-man was under my bed, and she told me he wasn't. "Don't let the nightmares rule out your life. They're not real. They're visions made up by your own mind. They're _not _real." If I could of done anything to take away her nightmares, I would take them away from her, and have them myself. At least I would be the one suffering now, and my sister would be back to her normal self.

Bella kept an impassive face, which was astonishing—Bella's face is like an open book, and to see her keep emotions off her face. . .

Well, it scared me.

"I know that, Vivienne." she used my full name sharply. I flinched. My parents, Bella, or teachers usually used my full name when they were either mad at me, or when I was in trouble. The emotions poured back into her pale face, and she seemed sorry. "I—I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't mean to sound like that."

I shook my head, trying to wave off my heavy heart. "Naw, don't worry about it. I'm fine." I lied, swallowing. "I was just trying to help," I said softly, regretting my earlier words.

She reached out a hand, but retreated it, grimacing. "Stay with me—tonight? Please?" she sounded in pain. Her brown eyes were no longer with me. They were in memories, memories with that Cullen guy. I glowered away from her, and shook my head again. I had to stop this.

"Yup, don't worry about it." I laughed weakly. "Go to bed. Go sleep." I shooed her away to her bed, and watched her lie down. She stared up at the ceiling, her hands folded neatly across her stomach. She looked peaceful, and I longed to join the empty space beside her in the bed—the space she'd save for me to sleep in.

I turned away from her, to turn on the computer. It was _so _slow. I took out my notebook from my bag, opened it to the page with all my information, and began to type away. I got frustrated half-way through typing the computer. The computer would leave off some words, because I was typing too fast. It took a while for it to catch up with me.

Finally, at three in the morning, I finished. I was dead tired, and blinked my eyes repeatedly as I saved the information into my Flash-Drive, and turned off the computer. I smiled to myself, pleased, and climbed into bed with Bella. Not even a minute passed when I closed my eyes, when Bella began to scream.

Jumping up, startled and annoyed—I tended to get annoyed and grumpy when I was sleepy—I looked at Bella, to see her face twisted in fear. I longed to know what scared her. Was it Edward? I found it hard to believe that was the reason of her unyielding terror.

It was no use trying to wake Bella. She would just keep on screaming. The only thing I could do was say, "Shh," to her, and run my fingers through her brown hair. Then, she'd stop screaming, and went back to a somewhat peaceful sleep.

I couldn't go sleep after that.

Morning arrived, and the alarm went off. The sound made me flinch, and my sleepy eyes blink tiredly. It was if something heavy was on my eyelids, reminding me that I didn't get any sleep at all. I groaned, and got out of bed. At least I had a reason to get up finally. I stretched my aching muscles, and got up.

Bella was already waking up.

"Good morning," I tried to keep the sleep away from my voice. It works, I guess, since she replied back. "I'm going to go get ready, okay?" I couldn't believe she didn't hear the croak in my voice. I left her room, my backpack in hand.

We didn't speak when Bella drove me to school. The only words exchanged between us was, "Bye." And then she drove away, too preoccupied in her thoughts. I worried that she would get into an accident if she was too distracted, but shrugged it off forcefully. Bella was responsible, I reminded myself, she won't do anything like _that_.

Kendra hadn't arrived yet to school, and I figured I should just go and print our information in the library. I sighed in relief when I found out it was open, and walked up to the nice librarian, handing her a dollar. We paid a dollar if we wanted to print out something. Sucks, I know.

Smiling proudly, I walked out of the library, happy and relieved that I had printed the papers. They were inside of my backpack, carefully put into a folder that the teacher had specifically ordered us to put of information in. I met Kendra outside our first class, Science, and pointed to my backpack.

"We're so ready." I said, my eyes flickering down to the model in her hands. She grinned back at me.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw a flash of golden hair. My heart skipped a beat, and I turned my head swiftly to glimpse at Arthur, my face already coated with red, but I was disappointed to see that it wasn't Arthur. Kendra snapped her fingers in front of my face, startling me.

"If you're looking for Arthur—you're not gonna find him because he's not here." She smiled knowingly.

I frowned. "Damn." Then I looked at her, almost squealing, "He asked me out!"

Her eyes widened. "_What_! He did? When? Oh my God!"

The rest of the day seemed to pass by like a blur. Kendra and I talked possibilities about my future date, and I told her Arthur's and I's conversation. She squealed loudly, and hugged me in congratulations. I forgot all about being tired, instead the tiredness was replaced by disappointment at Arthur not being here, but I managed to keep my mind distracted from him.

Bella picked me up after school, and her face seemed different.

As soon as I'd settled on my seat on the truck, she twisted on her seat, facing me. "Can you come with me somewhere?"

I agreed instantly. Her face was set—determined. "Sure. Where to?" I asked curiously.

"_Their _house." her words came out shakily.

My face fell instantly. "Oh."

What could she possibly want to do over there? Didn't she, herself, realize the painful memories it would bring back to her? Was she being masochistic? I studied her face. She too, was thinking, a frown tugging downwards on her lip. Did she like the pain?

That one thought made me mad. No, she couldn't love the pain. That just wasn't the Bella I knew. But then again, the Bella I knew wouldn't of turned into a zombie if a guy left her.

And then Bella began to drive slower. I looked out the window, glaring at the scenery. The lane appeared to be over-grown. I looked up to see the tall trees hovering us, and creating a tunnel. Bella seemed anxious about something, almost fearful.

The thick, almost jungle-like growth crawled slowly past the windows. The drive wound on and on. Soon, Bella started drive faster, and I felt the air turn edgy. Suddenly, there was a break in the trees. I peered forward, confused and a bit curious as to how the grand Cullen's house looked like. Tall ferns had infiltrated the grass around the house, crowding against the trunks of the cedars, even wide porch. It looked like the lawn had been flooded, the grass waist-high, and to me, the grass appeared like green, feathery waves.

Then I looked at the house. It emanated an aura that said; _emptiness. _I frowned at the creepy looking house, and looked at Bella when she gasped. Her face seemed tormented, as if she had lost some hope. I hadn't realized Bella had been driving until Bella abruptly hit the brakes.

"Bella!" I yelled in panic, breathing hard. "Don't—don't do that." I mumbled shakily. My heart was beating too fast, and not in the good way.

Bella went inside to observed the house, but I stayed inside. I figured she wanted time alone with the house that once belonged to her ex-boyfriend. No less than five minutes later, Bella was running back to the truck. She got into the car, gasping, and then began to drive away quickly. I said nothing, and kept my mouth shut.

She drove us to Jacob's, and once we passed the La Push border, she visibly relaxed. I wanted to approach the subject on how she was doing, but didn't really know how to without making her uncomfortable with me.

Jacob was—surprisingly—waiting for us. I greeted him with a hug, and couldn't help smiling back, despite my distracted thoughts. His grin was infectious.

"Liv!" he yelled over-enthusiastically. "Bella!" he said, once he saw her getting out of the truck.

My eyes drifted towards a half-smiling Bella. It seemed to me like Jacob's smile was just as an infection to her as it was to me.

"Hey," I greeted. I was still somewhat distracted, and couldn't ignore the bad feelings I had previously had. Maybe Jacob had noticed something in my face that implied my negative feelings, but he somehow pointed them out.

"Is something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

I looked away from his face, not knowing if I could hide the truth. It felt as though I could trust Jacob with anything, and he would keep the secret safe. I felt oddly comforted in his presence, but still, I decided not to tell my friend. Perhaps Bella wouldn't want me telling anyone about our little _visit _to a certain place. So instead of looking at Jacob, I stared around. My eyes found Billy, who happened to be by a window.

I waved and grinned.

Billy waved and grinned back.

"Liv," Bella murmured silently from beside me, "_is _something wrong?"

I detected the guilty tone in her voice. I refused to make my sister feel bad; she needed someone to walk through the horrible, darkest time of her life. Suddenly, my mind wondered what else had it's darkest, loneliest time—a new moon did. I stared at Bella, trying to decipher if Bella was going through that face.

Without looking at Bella, I knew the answer to my own question.

Yes she was.

"No. I'm alright, honestly," I lied, finally looking at them. Seeing their raised eyebrows, I added in, "Well, I'm actually nervous." Now _that _wasn't a lie. I actually _was_ nervous. I wondered if Arthur would call me today. . .

Just thinking about this made my cheeks flush.

Bella frowned, but nodded nonetheless.

Jacob, however, observed my blush. "Why would you be nervous?"

"Oh, no reason at all." I said quickly, smiling a bit dreamily.

But before Jacob could ask me anymore questions, I said, "Well, let's get to work, shall we?"

My formal tone made Jacob grin. I sighed in relief. He had dropped the subject for _now_, at least. That is all I could ask for. He'll probably forget, and won't bring it up anymore. Grinning at my sureness, I followed Jacob and Bella into the garage.

"You seriously aren't sick of us yet?" Bella abruptly asked, sounding incredulous. "You must be starting to ask yourself why you're even bothering to hang out with us."

"Nope. Not yet."

I playfully scoffed. "Pfft, like anyone would get tired of _me_." I grinned to show I was kidding around. Jacob met my eyes, his twinkling.

"Please let us know when we start getting on your nerves. I don't want to be a pain—I don't know about Liv."

"Okay." He laughed, a throaty sound. "I wouldn't hold your breath for that, though." Once again, his eyes shifted to meet mine. I grinned back at him, rolling my eyes.

"Who said I was gonna hold my breath?"

"Admit it Liv, you love my company."

"Nuh-uh! I just like your place, s'all."

"So you're only coming here because you like spending time—here in my garage?" He raised a dark brow. "Not because of awesome me?"

"Who said you were awesome, anyways?" I countered, smirking.

"You did, yesterday. Remember?"

I sighed loudly, nodding reluctantly when I realized he was right.. "Yeah, yeah. I do." We were inside of the garage now, and I sighed contentedly. It was warm inside, and I was starting to get a bit cold. I looked up, and stopped suddenly, my mouth dropping slightly.

The red bike was standing up, looking like a motorcycle rather than a pile of jagged metal.

"Jake, you're incredible," Bella breathed.

While I said in a wowed voice, "Impressive." And, unable to conceal my excitement, I squealed, "You're amazing, Jacob!"

He laughed, blushing. He cleared his throat, "I sort of get a bit, er, obsessive when I start a new building project." He shrugged, and his face turned solemn all of a sudden. "If I had any brains I'd drag it out a little bit."

I found myself disliking the solemn look on Jacob's face. "Why?" I side-glanced Bella, and saw that she too, was worrying.

Jacob looked down. He didn't speak for minutes, his forehead creasing. I tried to guess what was wrong, so I could tell him sorry or that everything is alright. I was beginning to get anxious—that is, until Jacob finally looked up, his brown eyes bored into mine for a brief second, before he looked away, back to the red bike.

His voice was slow, questioning. "If I had said. . ." he paused again, then shook his head. "If I had said that I couldn't fix these bikes, what would you say?"

I didn't answer right away either, because I was unsure who he was asking. He glanced up to check my expression, so I took it in myself to answer, after shooting Bella a glance and seeing that she was thinking hard. I racked my brain, and finally settled on something.

"Well, I don't know about Bella," I began, "but I would still find a way to come hang out with you. We could, I don't know, do homework? Go. . . camping?" I smiled and Jacob seemed to relax. I turned to stare at Bella who just snapped out of her thoughts.

Bella nodded along. "Yeah, we could do homework," she murmured, her forehead creasing.

Jacob went to sit down next to the bike and picked up a wrench. "So you think you'll still come over when I'm done, then?" He stared at both of us, his eyes flickering to me the most.

I stare at him for a second. "_That's _ what you meant?" I murmured, shaking my head slightly. "Of course we're gonna come over! Silly Billy—oh wait, that's your dad. Silly Jackey!" This caused him to playfully glower at me.

"I guess we _are _taking advantage of your very underpriced mechanical skills. But as long as you let me come over, I'll be here." Bella made an effort to smile.

"Hoping to see Quil again?" he teased Bella. I laughed, and nodded my head quickly behind Bella. Jacob laughed along, too.

Bella smiled, rolling her eyes. "You caught me."

There was another pause in the cheerful air. I was too nervous to even try and break it. I was still too surprised at seeing Bella smile. My mind couldn't stop, but marvel at Bella's sudden cheerful mood. Jacob sighed, shaking his head with a grin on his face. I studied him for another second, before looking away, my cheeks flushing.

"You two really like hanging out with me?" he asked us, raising his eyebrows.

"Very, very much. And I'll prove it. I have to work tomorrow, but Wednesday we'll do something nonmechanical." Bella nodded.

I was confused. "Like _what_?" Then I turned to Jacob, "Yup, I _really _do like hanging out with you." It was true. When I was near Jacob, I felt my mood shift and brightened. It was as if the mere sight of Jacob made something inside of me—something that somehow didn't cease to stop or something—calmed down when I saw Jacob. I was always restless whenever I came to visit my dad on those Summers with Bella. . . and when I saw Jake, my mood would turn bright and I would relax. My dad used to joke about how "When you and Liv are married, and she's on her hormones, you'll calm her down, Jake."

Of course my young seven year old self didn't have a clue as to what my dad was saying, but it made Jacob blush, and avoid my eyes, which led to me being embarrassed, even though I had no idea what to be embarrassed about.

"Maybe we can go to our place," Bella turned her head to stare pointedly at me when she continued, "and do _homework. _I know a certain someone who is falling behind with their homework. So, why not do homework?"

I grimaced. Homework. Hurray.

"Do we have to?" I whined. "I mean, okay, I waited last minute for _one _homework assignment." I crossed my arms, and posed my head up in the air indignantly.

Jacob looked back and forth between Bella and I. I smiled wryly at him, and shrugged. I had been used to this side of motherly Bella. But seeing as how Bella had been acting O.C.C. herself, I refrained from scowling at her, and muttering stuff behind her back—that's what I usually did when "her end" had come.

"Homework might be a good idea." Jacob said, making a face. He succeeded in bringing the attention to himself, which I was relieved.

Bella frowned at him, which meant I was forgotten. I gave Jake the thumps up behind her, and he discreetly smiled when Bella looked down at the floor when she next spoke. "Yes, it is a good one. We have to start being responsible—"

"Hey!" I began to protest, cutting Bella off. "_I'm _already done with _my _homework! That means I'm the most responsible one out of the three." I liked the sound of that; I'm the most responsible. .

"Jacob isn't, though, because he's working too much on the bikes."

That shut me up. I sent Jacob an apologetic look.

Bella turned around, and shook her head. "As I was saying," she continued, "We have to be responsible, or Billy and Charlie—"

Once again, I cut Bella off. I rather enjoyed seeing her get a bit frustrated by this; it showed emotion on her face, at least. "Hem, hem. I believe the correct term is, _dad_. Billy and _dad_."

Jacob was chuckling.

My sister had her eyes narrowed on me. I gestured towards her, grinning. "You were saying, dearest sister of mine?"

"Billy and _dad_," she paused to stared at me. I gave her a look that said much better, "aren't going to be so easygoing about this." She made a gesture indicating the three of us as a single entity. I mimicked her.

"Yeah, about that. . . we _should _spend some time outside the garage. I overheard my dad and Charlie talking about, uh, _us_." He flushed, avoiding my eyes.

"About you _and _me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about?"

"Well, they think. . . we're going. . . out?"

My face was on fire. "_What_!"

So perhaps I was over-exaggerating. But who cared at the moment, when my dad thinks I'm actually dating Jacob? Maybe that's why he was confused and a bit angry with me when he found out about Arthur. I think he thought I was cheating on Jacob. Oh that father of mine, how silly he can be sometimes. I mean, sure I knew he has been hoping of Jacob and I getting together, but—but I don't see him as that, sort of. I was confusing myself with all this internal dilemma.

Jacob liked my reaction, I suppose, because a bright grin appeared on his lips, and he positively beamed. "Yup."

I guess he liked it when I agreed with him. I guess he liked the fact that I found both our father's assumptions were outrages. I shrugged it away, and proceeded to calm myself, and get my face back to normal.

Bella cleared her throat, her brown eyes looking back and forth between us, a crease forming between her brows. "Anyways," she said, "homework once a week?" she proposed. As I was opening my mouth to let out a whine—just to irritate her, and see her wonderful reactions—she spoke again, "Or make that twice a week. Sound good?"

_No_!

I kept my mouth shut, though, knowing Bella had heaps of homework everyday. More than I did. All I did was glower down at the ground.

Jacob suddenly sighed, causing me to look up. H was reaching over to his toolbox to a paper grocery sack. He pulled out three hands cans of Seven Up, cracking one open and handing it to me with a sheepish smile, once he'd seen my raised eyebrow. He opened the second, handed it to Bella, and then he opened one for himself, holding his up in a ceremoniously way.

"Here's to responsibility," he toasted. "Twice a week."

"And recklessness every day in between," Bella emphasized.

I wanted to say something, feeling a bit left out. "And I want to say some words," I began, and noticed their questioning faces. "Bedaz, doodles, Woody, lilypup, boypip. _Also,_ I wanted to say that I'm glad you're my friend, Jake. You're starting to become my _best _friend," I flushed. He beamed.

Grinning, Jacob held his can up into the air, before Bella and I followed his example. Bella's and Jacob's can touched mine, sealing the toast.

It's funny how time seems to pass by quickly when you're having fun. Before I knew it, the sun was sinking behind the horizon, and twilight was taking place. I rather enjoyed this time of day because it was neither day nor night. I loved the prospect of it being unique.

The first thing I noticed when I entered my house was the insistent whining coming from Squirt somewhere around the house, which made me worry. The second thing was the mouth watering aroma filling the house. With delight, I conclude that dad had brought pizza! Bella had tried to apologize for not coming to cook, but dad and I rolled our eyes, and watched the basketball game on the TV.

"I don't mind," he assured her. "You deserve a break from all the cooking, anyway."

School Tuesday was utterly fantastic. Arthur was waiting for me in front of the school, causing Bella to frown. I was unsure why she had a look of worry flashed across her eyes. I mean, Arthur didn't even look dangerous, if that was why she was worrying. How can someone as adorable as Arthur be dangerous? Ah, right. Don't judge a book by it's cover. But he wasn't dangerous!

Arthur and I were glued to the hip the whole day. He sat next to me in all our classes, and even in lunch. He kept on smiling at me shyly, his gray eyes boring into mine. . . and it would seem like we would stare into each other's eyes, that is, if Kendra wouldn't keep on clearing her throat.

He looked at me once more, smiling. His dimples showed. "We have a lot of homework today," he sighed. I grimaced. I guess Bella had been right to make the "twice a week do homework" toast.

I nodded, nibbling on my apple. "A lot," I agreed.

"So, are you going to do anything today?"

Kendra was snickering beside me. I pinched her arm, and she squeaked in protest.

"Nah, just hanging out." I replied casually, wondering where he was getting at.

"Oh," he murmured, thinking. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a walk, today? I mean, with out dogs?"

I blushed. The idea of me being alone with Arthur. . . was making my dreams come true. "Sure," I said coolly, proud of myself for not squealing in delight and jumping him. "I'd like that." That was sort of a lie.

I'd absolutely _love _that.

After school, Arthur and I walked home—_together._ I swear he was going to grab my hand, but I guess he chickened out, and kept his hand to himself. Damn him.

"I'll wait for you outside, with Squirt." I nodded, smiling up at Arthur. I was suddenly afraid I'd turn to goo if I kept on staring at him, so I quickly looked away, blushing.

He nodded. "That's the plan."

"Great. Um, so. . . hurry," I pushed him playfully, nudging him towards the right direction.

He didn't respond. And it startled me because he was staring in the direction of my house; his eyes were furrowed.

I turned slowly to look at my house, and saw dad, Billy, and Jacob. My first thought was _oh crap_—I was suddenly worried for Arthur. What if dad planned on shooting Arthur? He sure looked like he wanted to shoot Edward when Bella had brought him to our house last year for the first time. . . and that was also the time when Bella had decided to flee from the house, leaving dad and I panicked and worried._  
_

Shaking my head to shoo away those unpleasant memories, I looked at all their faces; dad was eyeing Arthur, Billy was frowning, and Jacob. . . Jacob for the most part looked like he's seen something horrible. His eyes kept flickering to me, then to Arthur, until they finally settled on me, assessing my face. I waved, and he just smiled a dim, non-Jacob smile.

I frowned.

"Well," I muttered, "crap."

Arthur suddenly grabbed my hand, and I looked at him, my face on fire and my mouth wide open. He smiled at me, one of those dimply smiles I adored, and shook his head. "No, I'm glad your dad is here," he said. "It's actually great."

I found myself unable to respond. I was off in La-la land. Arthur's hand was so soft, and warm. I wonder how his hugs felt. . .

"Liv?" I heard my dad's voice. I was suddenly taken out of my trance, and I stared at Billy, dad, and Jacob. They were in front of us all of a sudden. When did they get here? "Are you okay?"

"Y—yeah. Why?" I made a face.

"Your face, honey," he chuckled weakly. "Looks funny."

"Hello Chief Swan," Arthur said, sounding respectful. He stood straight and stretched his free hand out, to shake dad's hand. Dad shook his with a little too much force than needed to, and I sent him a glare.

"You must be Arthur Forbes." Dad said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir."

"Ah. . . and why are you holding my daughter's hand?"

"Oh, well, see—I wanted to ask you something." His grey eyes sent me an uncertain look, and I was suddenly worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, and refrained myself from saying baby. I don't think anyone would be. . . cool with me saying baby to Arthur.

He simply sent me his dimple smile, before turning to Billy and Jacob. He greeted Billy with same respect, but when it came to Jacob, he suddenly wore a macho face. I accessed his face; hard, cool, and adorable. He greeted Jake with a curt nod, and Jacob did the same. Odd.

I smiled at Jake, and said in a playful tone, "Missed you."

Arthur didn't seem to like it much. He seemed. . . _jealous_! And, well, more uncertain.

Jake smiled somewhat triumphant of something. "Me too."

And then he came forward, and enveloped me into a warm hug. I was overwhelmed at how much I liked it, being hugged by him. I found myself hugging him back—releasing Arthur's hand on the way—and laughing against his warm chest. I didn't _want _to pull away, which again, surprised me. I felt so _comfortable_. . . it felt so _right _to hug Jacob. . . and it scared me.

So with a great deal of reluctance, I pulled away from him, my face warm. I turned to Arthur, and made an effort to smile, feeling a bit guilty suddenly. He shook his head and chuckled weakly, turning to face my dad again, and his face was a bit troubled, but he seemed confident when his grey eyes flickered over to me, and found me gawking at him. And now one of those adorable dimply grins appeared, and he unexpectedly reached for my hand again—shooting Jacob a sharp stare—and wrapped mine in his. This, of course, made me flush.

"Chief Swan—"

"Call him Charlie." I interrupted, grinning. I sent dad a stare that said to defy me.

Dad sighed, while Billy chuckled. "As Liv said, call me Charlie, kid."

Arthur laughed nervously. "Okay, Charlie. I wanted to ask you something, to make sure it was okay with you." He sent me a nervous glance, his grey eyes bored into mine, and I was sure I turned to goo. He squeezed my hand, before clearing his throat. "I wanted to ask you if I could ask Livi to be my girlfriend."

In that one instant, I felt myself _really _turn to goo. He wanted me to be his girlfriend, which was _one _of my _many _ dreams in life; be Arthur's girlfriend.

"Have you asked her, yet?" Dad asked in a gruff voice. Arthur shook his head.

Grey eyes flickered to mine, and stared at me with such intensity, I felt like we were the only ones standing here. He bent down in one knee, and I felt like squealing, but refrained from doing so. He dug something through his pockets, and took out two rings, one light blue, the other grey. I stared in confusion, wondering if he was going to propose, and wasn't sure if I was ready to get married yet. I mean, I wanted to graduate first, and then study to become a doctor.

"Liv," he said in a soft voice. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Y—yes," I found myself whispering, and with a sudden urge to cry. This had to be the most happiest day of my life.

His answering smile made the day even more perfect; he took the grey ring, and then held it out for me so I could read what it said: _Art _in grey words. He slipped it into my outstretched fingers, slipping it into my index finger. He smiled at it, before showing me the blue ring that read: _Liv _in blue words, and slipped it into his fingers. I was amazed at how happy I felt._  
_

Someone cleared their throat, breaking me out of my happy bubble. My head turned to the source of the sound, which happened to be Jacob. He looked uncomfortable, and I felt myself blushing. I sent all three of them a half-hearted, apologetic smile.

"We're boyfriend," Arthur said, standing up and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"And girlfriend," I ended, with a wide smile.

"Unless, of course, you hurt her. . . I'm a cop, with a gun—that's all you need to know."

Dad just had to ruin the moment.

"_Dad_!" _  
_

"What?" he asked innocently, before chuckling, and patting Arthur in the shoulder. "But seriously kid, don't hurt my baby."

I smiled and shook my head. Arthur's phone rang, and he picked it up. Turns out, he had to leave. I was upset, sure, but his mom needed him. He kissed me in the cheek as a farewell—and I was tempted to _accidentally _turn my head. I watched him go for a moment, before turning to face dad, Billy, and Jacob, grinning like a fool.

Today turned out to be such a wonderful day. This was my blissful abyss.

The next night, I found myself being dragged into Jacob's and Bella's study session. Jacob didn't have his usually enthusiasm, but when I smiled at him, he'd smile back, his eyes brightening and his face would turn happy. That's why I smiled at him a lot this day.

"School sucks," I muttered, and sneaked my Harry Potter book out of my backpack, and began to read. It was unexpectedly taking away from me. "Hey!"

Bella shook her head. "Homework." Was all she said.

Think, fast.

"I need to read thirty minutes!" Smart, smart.

She threw me a stare that said she didn't believe me, but very hesitantly, she gave it back to me, sighing. Jacob chuckled, and asked if he could see the book. He flipped through it disinterestedly, and I felt a bit offended at his next question. "Is it good or something?"

"_Good_?" I muttered incredulously, and Bella muttered something around the lines of _don't _ to Jacob. "It's the most _amazing _book in history!"

"What's it about? A romance book? Vampire falling in love with human girl, and then this werewolf falling in love with her too?" he joked, reading the title silently.

"Don't even joke about that! Eww no, I wouldn't read that! Harry Potter is about friendship, good versus evil—"

"Let's get back to homework." Bella interrupted, sounding annoyed. She hated it when I talked about my passion for Harry Potter.

"Romeo and Juliet sucks," I muttered under my breath, grabbing my book when Jacob handed it back. She visibly stiffened, and I was worried I'd said something wrong. But she went back to work, a little unfocused now.

Friday was the garage, and Saturday, after being stuck home re-reading Harry Potter books, was homework again. Dad spent the day fishing with Harry. When he got back, we were all done—feeling very sensible and mature about it, too—and watching _Monster Garage _on the Discovery Channel. I wasn't really interested in it. I was rather busy daydreaming about Arthur.

"I probably ought to go." Jacob sighed. "It's later than I thought."

"Aww!" I whined. "You were the only fun thing around here." I pouted.

He laughed at my unwilling expression—it seemed to please him.

"Tomorrow, back to work," Bella said as soon as we were all safe in the truck—she had agreed to drop off Jake home. "What time do you want me to come up?"

There was an unexplained excitement in his answering smile. "I'll call first, okay?"

"Sure." Bella frowned to herself. I stared at Jake with a raised eyebrow. His smile widened.

The next morning, I found myself washing dishes, while Bella was vacuuming the living room. When the phone rang, I yelled, "Got it!" And went to receive the call. I was hoping it would be Arthur; but the voice who spoke at the other end wasn't his.

"Hello?" I asked eagerly.

A chuckle responded. "Hey Liv," Jacob said in an unusual formal tone.

"Hello, my friend," I laughed. "What's up?" I was a bit bummed out that it wasn't Arthur, but I'll live.

"I believe that. . . we have a _date" _he said, his tone thick with implications. I furrowed my brows.

"Um, that's weird. . . going out in a date with my sister, best friend, while I already have a boyfriend—" And then I got it. "THE BIKES ARE DONE!" I screamed so Bella could hear me.

"Yeah, they run and everything," Jake chuckled weakly.

Bella was suddenly behind me, and ripped the phone away from me. "Jacob, you are absolutely, without a doubt, the most talented and wonderful person I know. You get ten years for this one."

I glared at her, and muttered, "What are you talking 'bout?"

"It's a game Jake and I are playing."

"Oh." I frowned. I didn't like being excluded.

"Cool! I'm middle-aged now." I heard Jake exclaim over the phone.

I hang out with people who are obsessed with age.

Bella laughed. "I'm on my way up!"

"Um, okay," I muttered awkwardly.

"Headed to see Jake," Dad said as we hurriedly walked past him—we clicked on Jake just a few minutes ago.

"Yep," Bella replied as we jumped inside her truck.

"I'll be at the station later," Dad called after us.

"Alright!" I yelled for both of us.

"Where's the fire?" Dad said, and it seemed like Bella hadn't heard him.

I smiled at dad, and yelled, "In yo' dreams!" He merely chuckled.

Bella parked the truck off to the side of the Blacks' house, close to the trees, to make it easier for us to sneak the bikes out. When we got out, a splash of color caught my eye—two shiny motorcycles, one red, one black, were hidden under a spruce, invisible from the house. Jacob was prepared.

"Wow." I was awed.

There was a piece of blue ribbon tied in a small bow around each of the handlebars. Bella and I were laughing at that when Jacob ran out of the house.

"Ready?" he asked in a low voice, his eyes sparkling when they met mine.

"You don't even need to ask!" I giggled, feeling high. I could already imagine wind whipping through my cheeks. . . And then a chilling image appeared on my head; me sprawled on muddy ground, blood pouring out of my head, and my chest still, eyes wide—lifeless.

Jacob brought a hand on my shoulder, and I jumped slightly, gasping. "Whoa Liv. You alright? You look a little pale," he murmured, frowning.

I made an effort to smile, and shook my head. "Nah, it's my natural color."

"No—well yeah," he agreed, chuckling. "But your cheeks are always rosy, and well, they weren't a second ago. They're rosy again, though." He smiled softly at me, and it made my face warm.

"Let's go," Bella said, faking enthusiasm. It seemed as though she was seeing the bad side of riding a damn motorcycle, too.

I gulped.

I'm not a chicken.

I'm a cougar.

Roar.

I kept on chanting that inside my head; trying to calm my heart down.

Jacob loaded the bikes into the bed of the truck with ease, laying them carefully on their sides so they didn't show.

I made faces at his back, "Show off."

He turned and simply grinned at me—he had no dimples.

"I know a perfect place where no one will catch us," he said, his voice higher than usual with excitement.

We drove south out of town. The dirt road wove in and out of the forest–sometimes there was nothing but trees, and then there would suddenly be a breathtaking glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, reaching to the horizon, dark gray under the clouds. We were above the shore, on top of the cliffs that bordered the beach here and the view seemed to stretch on forever.

I was ignoring Jacob and his babbling about mechanics and stuff—I was nodding here and there for his benefit so he could see I was listening, sort of—and instead, I was paying close attention to the giant cliffs outside the window. I was amazed at how tall they were, and I wondered if anyone had ever jumped from them.

That was when I noticed four figures standing on a rocky ledge, much too close to the precipice. I couldn't tell from the distance how old they were, but I assumed they were men. Despite the chill in the air today, they seemed to be wearing only shorts.

"Huh?" I mumbled, furrowing my brows at the guys. Jacob stopped talking.

As I watched, the tallest person stepped closer to the brink. And then the weirdest, stupidest thing happened: he threw himself off the edge.

"No!" Bella shouted, stomping down on the brake.

"What's wrong?" Jacob shouted back, alarmed.

My voice had left me for a moment, before I turned to Jacob, eyes glaring at him. "Did you not see what just happened! That guy threw himself off that damned cliff! We got to help him or something! What if they call us in for questions?" I was freaking out.

Bella jumped out of the truck, and I jumped out, too. I stared over the ocean, trying to spot the guy in the water, but having no luck. I felt my eyes water, and I was too focused on looking for the guy to even try wiping the tears in embarrassment.

Jacob laughed from behind me, and I spun to stare at him wildly. Was he _joking_?

"W—hat's so f—fun—ee?" I hiccuped, and this time I did try to wipe away the tears.

"They're just cliff diving, Livi. Recreation. La Push doesn't have a mall, you know." He was teasing, but there was a strange note of irritation in his voice, and he seemed sort of guilty. By then, the laughing had escaped from his face, and he was frowning. "Sorry for laughing."

The words _cliff diving _buzzed inside my head, and I was a bit dazed. "Why would they to that. . .?" My voice trailed off as a second figure stepped to the edge, paused, and then very gracefully leaped into space. He fell for what seemed like an eternity to me, finally cutting smoothly into the dark gray waves below.

"Wow. It's so high." Bella said. "It must be a hundred feet."

"Well, yeah, most of us jump from lower down, that rock that juts out from the cliff about halfway." He pointed out his window. The place he indicated did seem much more reasonable. "_Those _guys are insane. Probably showing off how tough they are. I mean, really, it's freezing today. That water can't feel good." He made a disgruntled face, as if the stunt personally offended him.

"_You've _jump off the cliff?" I hadn't missed the "us." I was upset with Jacob, and once we were all back, safely inside the truck, I found myself staring at Jacob's brown eyes. I didn't want him to get hurt. It seemed dangerous. It _was _dangerous.

"Sure, sure." He shrugged and grinned. "It's fun. A little scary, kind of a rush."

We all looked back at the cliffs, where the third figure was pacing the edge. I'd never witnessed anything so reckless in all my life. My eyes widened at Bella's next words.

"Jake, you _have _to take me cliff diving."

"No," I said firmly. "Don't be stupid. You're clumsy, and throwing yourself off a cliff with your bad luck?" I said, glaring at her, furious. "You could die!"

Jacob was frowning at Bella. "Liv's right, Bella. You just wanted to call an ambulance for Sam," he reminded her. I was surprised that he could tell who it was from this distance.

Wasn't Sam the guy who brought Bella out of the woods when Edward stranded her?

"I want to try," Bella insisted.

"Not today, all right? Can we at least wait for a warmer day?" Jacob said, and shot me a look. I looked away from him. Why was he agreeing to this?

"Okay, fine. But I want to go soon," Bella said, smiling.

"Soon." He rolled his eyes. "Sometimes you're a little strange, Bella. Do you know that?"

"And suicidal." I muttered under my breath, looking down. Why was she so insistent in finding ways to kill herself? Oh wait—she wanted to hear Edward. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"And we're not jumping off the top," Jacob added in.

My eyes snap open, and I looked up, looking between Jacob and Bella. "Oh yes. Like not jumping from the top would make it less dangerous," I said sarcastically. Jacob squeezed my shoulder, and I sighed. I heard him murmur sorry, and I shrugged.

I watched out the window, fascinated, as the third boy made a running start and flung himself farther into the empty air than the other two. He twisted and cartwheeled through space as he fell, like he was skydiving. He looked absolutely free—unthinking and utterly irresponsible.

"Fine," Bella agreed. "Not the first time, anyway."

"You are _not _jumping from the top, Bella." I growled, narrowing my eyes. "It's too dangerous." And, if she did want to jump from the top, I could just tell dad. She would hate me for it, but at least she'd be alive to hate me.

"Are we going to try out the bikes or not?" Jacob sighed.

We continued our journey, me a bit upset and worried for Bella.

"So who were those guys—the crazy ones?" Bella asked, and this made me curious, too.

He made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "The La Push gang."

"A gang?" I said, sounding amazed. "Wow."

He laughed once at my reaction. "Not like that. I swear, they're like hall monitors gone bad. They don't start fights, they keep the peace." He snorted. "There was this guy from up somewhere by the Makah rez, big guy too, scary-looking. Well, word got around that he was selling meth to kids, and Sam Uley and his disciples ran him off our land. They're all about our land, and tribe pride. . . it's getting ridiculous. The worst part is that the council takes them seriously. Embry said that the council actually meets with Sam." He shook his head, face full of resentment. "Embry also heard from Leah Clearwater that they call themselves 'protectors' or something like that."

Jacob's hands were clenched into fists, as if he'd like to hit something. I'd never seen this side of him.

I found it hard to believe that Sam Uley was doing anything bad. I admired him ever since he'd found Bella in the woods. Hearing Leah's name in the conversation made me more interested. They _were _protectors. Though I didn't say this out loud, noticing the disliking tone in Jake's voice.

"Not a fan of their's?" I asked.

"Does it show?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well. . . It doesn't sound like they're doing anything bad. Just sort of annoyingly goody-two shoes for a gang." I sighed. At least Bella didn't see them as bad people either. After all, Sam had found her in the woods.

"Yeah. Annoying is a good word. They're always showing off–like the cliff thing. They act like. . . like, I don't know. Like tough guys. I was hanging out at the store with Embry and Quil once, last semester, and Sam came by with _his followers_, Jared and Paul. Quil said something, you know how he's got a big mouth, and it pissed Paul off. His eyes got all dark, and he sort of smiled—no, he showed his teeth but he didn't smile—and it was like he was so mad he was shaking or something. But Sam put his hand against Paul's chest and shook his head. Paul looked at him for a minute and calmed down. Honestly, it was like Sam was holding him back—like Paul was going to tear us up if Sam didn't stop him." He groaned. "Like a bad western. You know, Sam's a pretty big guy, he's twenty. But Paul's just sixteen, too, shorter than me and not as beefy as Quil. I think any one of us could take him."

I shivered, imagining the face Jacob had described of that Paul guy. I remembered Paul Lahote faintly from last September, but not much.

"Isn't Sam a little too old for this kind of thing?" Bella asked quickly, trying to shoo away something invisible.

"Yeah. He was supposed to go to college, but he stayed. And no one gave him any crap about it, either. The whole council pitched a fit when my sister turned down a partial scholarship and got married. But, oh no, Sam Uley can do no wrong." His face was set in unfamiliar lines of outrage—outrage and something else I didn't recognize at first.

It all sounded really so strange. But I didn't get why Jacob was taking it so personally. I peeked over at his face, hoping to find an answer. He was suddenly calm, staring out the side window.

"Why are you taking this. . . personally?" I asked quietly, searching his face.

It was quiet for a brief minute.

"You can stop anywhere along here," he said after the brief pause.

Bella pulled over and cut the engine, and we all got out. Jacob headed around to the back to get the bikes—and suddenly, I found myself thinking that Arthur couldn't bring down the bikes as easily as Jake did. Jacob was _strong_.

He smiled half-heartedly as he pushed the red bike to Bella's side. "Happy late birthday. Are you ready for this?"

"I think so." Bella muttered, unsure.

"We'll take it slow," he promised. Bella gingerly held it, observing it.

"Jake. . ." I murmured suddenly, and Bella stared at Jacob with concerned eyes.

"Yeah?"

"What's really bothering you? About the Sam thing, I mean? Is there something else?" Bella asked for me. I watched his face. He grimaced, but he didn't seem angry. He looked at the dirt and kicked his shoe against the front tire of his bike again and again, like he was keeping time.

He sighed. "It's just. . . the way they treat me. It creeps me out." The words started to rush out now. "You know, the council is supposed to be made up of equals, but if there was a leader, it would be my dad. I've never been able to figure out why people treat him the way they do. Why his opinion counts the most. It's got something to do with his father and his father's father. My great-grandpa, Ephraim Black, was sort of the last chief we had, and they still listen to Billy, maybe because of that. But I'm just like everyone else. Nobody treats _me _special. . . until now."

That caught me off guard. "Sam treats you. . . special?"

"Yeah," he agreed, looking up at me with troubled eyes. "He looks at me like he's waiting for something. . . like I'm going to join his stupid gang someday. He pays more attention to me than any of the other guys. I hate it."

"You don't have to join anything." I found myself saying, and stomping my foot on the ground. "He can't control you, and _I _won't let him drag you into this gang of his." My respect for Sam quickly disappeared. This was really upsetting Jacob, and that infuriated me. Who did these "protectors" think they were?

"Yeah." His foot kept up its rhythm against the tire.

"What?" Bella asked.

He frowned, his eyebrows pulling up in a way that looked sad and worried rather than angry. "It's Embry. He's been avoiding me lately."

The thoughts didn't seem connected, but I wondered if I was to blame for the problems with his friend. "You've been hanging out with me a lot," I reminded him, a bit sheepish. Bella frowned.

"No, that's not it. It's not just me—it's Quil, too, and everyone. Embry missed a week of school, but he was never home when we tried to see him. And when he came back, he looked. . . he looked freaked out. Terrified. Quil and I both tried to get him to tell us what was wrong, but he wouldn't talk to either one of us."

I stared at Jacob, biting my lip, worried—he was really frightened. But he didn't look at either me or Bella. He watched his own foot kicking the rubber as if it belonged to someone else. The tempo increased.

"Then this week, out of nowhere, Embry's hanging out with Sam and the rest of them. He was out on the cliffs today." His voice was low and tense.

He finally looked at me, his eyes flickered to Bella, before landing on me again. "They bugged him even more than they bother me. He didn't want anything to do with them. And now Embry's following Sam around like he's joined a cult. And that's the way it was with Paul. Just exactly the same. He wasn't friends with Sam at all. Then he stopped coming to school for a few weeks, and, when he came back, suddenly Sam owned him. I don't know what it means. I can't figure it out, and I feel like I have to, because Embry's my friend and. . . Sam's looking at me funny... and. . ." He trailed off.

"Have you talked to Billy about this?" I whispered, feeling terrified all of a sudden. Something was going to happen. And I knew couldn't prevent it.

Now there was anger on his face. "Yes," he snorted. "That was helpful."

"What did he say?" Bella asked softly.

Jacob's expression was sarcastic, and when he spoke, his voice mocked the deep tones of his father's voice. "It's nothing you need to worry about now, Jacob. In a few years, if you don't. . . well, I'll explain later." And then his voice was his own. "What am I supposed to _get _from that? Is he trying to say it's some stupid puberty, coming-of-age thing? This is something else. Something wrong." He was biting his lower lip and clenching his hands. He looked like he was about to cry.

Something inside of me, deep down and buried, was trying to resurface. I was scared and shocked as emotions swirled around me; an urge to come forward and hug Jacob—to tell him everything was going to be alright. I couldn't resist long enough, and it wasn't long before I gave into the feeling, the temptation, and threw my arms over Jacob.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressing my face against his chest. He was so big, I felt like I was a child hugging a grown-up. It felt so right, so good, to wrap my arms around him, I was overwhelmed at how much I found myself enjoying this.

"It's gonna be okay," I whispered against his chest. Arthur and I were the same height, though he was like two inches taller. His hugs didn't feel as. . . good as Jake's. Jake's felt complete somehow. "If they keep bothering you, I'll call dad. He'd bring out the gun," I promised. "Just don't be scared. Bells and I are here for you. We can beat them up, too. Bring Quil for help."

He was frozen for a second, and then his long arms wrapped hesitantly around me. "Thanks, Livi." His voice was huskier than usual.

We stood like that for a moment, and it didn't upset me; in fact, I felt comforted by the contact. Jacob was _very_ warm.

"If this is how you're going to react, I'll freak out more often." Jacob's voice was light, normal again, and his laughter rumbled against my ear. His fingers touched my hair, soft and tentative.

I giggled a bit, before pulling away to stare at him in the face. Bella was standing to the side, once again, observing us. I felt my face flush, and I was quick to disentangle myself from Jake.

"You make me feel like a dwarf," I muttered. "And you're only 'bout two years older than me, right?"

"Nope. According to Bella, I'm in my forties."

"Oh, that's right." Bella said, smiling.

He patted my head. "You're like a little doll," he teased. "A porcelain doll."

"What are you talking about? I'm a toy wrestler." I made a pose, flexing my nonexistent muscles.

Bella sighed. "Don't start with the albino jokes, Jake."

"Seriously, are you sure both of you aren't?" He stretched his russet arm out next to mine—Bella put her arm, too. My skin looked lifeless compared to his, but Bella's was even paler, if that wss even possible. "I've never seen anyone paler than you. . . well, except for—" He broke off, making Bella look away.

"So are we going to ride or what?" she demanded, some new set of confidence and determination on her face that hadn't been there before.

"Let's do it," Jake agreed, grinning down at me. I gulped.

I'm not a chicken.

I'm a cougar.

_Roar_.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I know, _LONG_. I'm deeply sorry about that. Did it make up for the lateness of this chapter? I hope it did! I started chapter seven yesterday when I finished this one, and I'm hoping that I won't get lazy, and slag off from reviewing. But I'll have more time, I am in Spring Vacation! \('o')/**

**Not a lot of Arthur & Jacob, I know. But you should all know that they don't like each other much; Arthur knows somehow, that Jake likes Liv, and yet Liv _doesn't. _Bella is starting to notice too, that Jake likes her. I promise, I HAVE A LOT OF JAKE AND ARTHUR interaction coming up! I'm sooo excited for it! Drama, sheesh.**

**Um, can I please get reviews? I love them, I do, trust me. They make me so happy. Thank you, again, for the amount of reviews in my last chapter :') They made me _SO _happy._  
_**

**REVIEW!**


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